An: OH MY GOSH. I was reading this story along with all my others, and I'm just so confused. Why in the world would I ever publish something like this? But some people seemed to like it, so I'm keeping it up, BUT I'm re-writing it as a second chapter.
That boy will be the end of me. It's not enough that he is constantly running around with that no good twin brother of his, pulling pranks on everyone, INCLUDING my cabin (for example, chocolate bunnies on our roof. Ugh) but now, it looks like Travis has decided to go for me personally.
I've caught him staring at me at least four times this week, like today in archery, and every time I confront him he just shrugs it off and runs away. I don't know if he's planning some prank or what.
The worst thing is that lately…well I've been responding to his staring. Like…blushing. I never have before. It's really strange, and honestly it makes me want to avoid him and seek him out at the same time. Ugh. Boys.
But right now I'm actually on my way back from archery, and unfortunately for me a wild hoard of Aphrodite kids are coming right for me.
"KATIE KATIE KATIE!"
Ah Stacey. She's not too bad.
"What is it Stacey?" I ask, hoping the answer won't be, Fashion Emergency, like the last time.
"We just uncovered some fabulous news!" she squealed
I sighed.
"What?"
"You have a secret admirer!" she cried, throwing her hands into the air
The three others that accompanied her studied my face carefully, waiting for a reaction.
"Me?" I asked quietly "Are you sure?"
At least I knew it wasn't some dumb prank. Stacey wasn't like that. But still. A secret admirer? Yeah right.
"Of course we're sure silly! I wouldn't have told you if I wasn't completely positive!"
"Well…do you know who it is?" I asked
Stacey shook her head.
"We just found this on the floor of the basket ball court today. Normally I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but you know us. Clean. So I picked it up and BOOM LOVE LETTER" one of Stacey's friends said loudly
"SHHHH! I don't need the whole camp knowing!" I hissed
"Katie, knowing us, we've already told everyone we knew on the way over here!" Stacy said
"Stacey!" I groaned
"I'm sorry! I didn't know you wanted it to be a secret! Besides, it was just too cute! We couldn't keep it to ourselves!" Stacey defended
Her friends nodded
I sighed.
"Let me see it"
Stacey handed over the crumpled note.
I unfolded it carefully and read over it.
Dear Katie,
I can't believe I'm actually going to send this to you. It's not like me to do this. I guess I'm just tired of keeping all this to myself. Well I really like you. I have for a while, and even though you might hate me for it I just want you to know. That's why I couldn't tell you this in person. That and I wouldn't have the guts to anyway.-
I paled.
This was meant for me.
There were no other Katie's in the camp.
The rest of the letter was ripped off, along with the signature.
"Oh" I murmured.
Stacey smiled
"We're on the case okay? Leave it to us to figure out the mystery man!"
"Stacey-"
"Say no more! Come on girls!" Stacey ordered.
And then they were gone.
The rest of the day was spent in worry and guessing.
I had no idea who this guy could be. The letter gave no clues.
Besides, I didn't know very many boys personally outside of my Cabin.
Finally I just gave up.
My friend Daisy seemed to realize something was wrong with me at dinner though.
"Katie darlin'? Is something wrong? You barely touched your food" she said in her deep southern accent, eyes to the brim with worry
"It's nothing Daisy. Just not feeling that well" I muttered
"Oh no, that won't fool me so easily. What happened?" she accused
I saw that Daisy had finished her dinner and gestured toward a path leading out of the pavilion.
"Walk with me"
As we walked through the forest, mind you not the dangerous section, just the outer grove of trees, I told Daisy about the letter.
"So you're just trying to figure out who this mystery fella is?" Daisy asked
I nodded
"I know I shouldn't stress, but I'm kinda new at this…relationship stuff. I'm not even sure I want to know who this guy is and the letter sounded pretty deep"
Daisy smiled.
"If you don't end up liking this guy Katie, it'll be okay. Not the end of the world. However things turn out to be, we got your back Katie"
I nodded
"So what should I do? Just wait for Stacey and her friends to find him? If they can that is" I asked
"I think that sounds like the best thing to do." Daisy nodded "But I'm no daughter of Athena"
There was a moment of silence before I spoke
"Thanks Daisy"
"No problem sugar"
The next day I was noticeably less stressed out.
Daisy's advice had calmed me. She was right after all; everything was going to be just fine. Not the end of the world.
"KATIE!" Stacey yelled
Well there goes my calm.
"We found him!" Stacey declared
"You found him?" I asked "That quickly?"
"Well actually we found the other half of the note! But don't worry we didn't read it!" Stacey said proudly
"Most of it anyway" her friend said under her breath
Stacey jabbed her in the ribs.
"Thanks Stace. I knew I could count on you" I said
"Anytime, Katie my dear! Come by for a makeover sometime soon! We miss you!"
I smiled "Will do"
I walked over to the nearest basketball court, and unfolded the second half of the note.
-but for some reason, if there's a chance you feel the same way about me…would you like to go out sometime? Just a thought.
~Travis Stoll
My heart was pounding.
Oh Gods. Travis.
Travis?
Of all the people, it was from Travis Stoll?
The boy who had been staring at me for weeks now? The boy I had been blushing at with every glance? Come to think of it, every thought?
Surely, this had to be some kind of practical joke? Travis couldn't really like me. No way. Could he?
He hadn't given me the note. If it was a prank he definitely wouldn't have chickened out. Never.
So…it was real?
If so what did I do now? Confront him? Leave it alone?
No I couldn't leave it alone. Not now what I knew. I could never look at him the same way.
I pulled the first half of the note out of my back pocket and inspected them.
"Watcha got there Gardner?"
I clutched the papers to my chest.
"Oh it's just you Connor" I nearly sighed in relief
"Just me? What were you expecting someone else" he laughed
I bit my lip
"What's that?" he pointed to the note
"Nothing!"
"Nothing? Sounds like something" Connor grinned
"Connor! You better not-" I cut off as he swiped the papers out of my hand
"Hey!"
But Connor was too busy reading over both halves of the note.
My heart was beating erratically.
"Wow" he muttered "My brother gave this to you?"
I shook my head slowly.
"No. A friend of mine from the Aphrodite cabin found it. I only just read the second half now" I whispered
"I've never seen Travis write anything like this. I didn't even know he liked you" Connor rubbed the back of his neck "What are you going to do?"
I sat back down on the bench with my face in my hands
"I have no idea"
"Well do you like him?" Connor asked
I let my hands rest in my lap
"I think so"
"Well then go out with him"
"But Travis doesn't even know I've read the note! What do I say to him?" I demanded
"Just tell him that you found the note and that you want to go on a date, just to test the water"
I thought for a moment.
"Alright, I will. Do you know where he is?" I asked
Connor nodded "Back at the cabin. Just hop in through the back window okay? I think he's the only one in there"
"Thanks Connor" I said
I hurried to the Hermes cabin, sneaking around to the back and opening the window quietly.
I slid through the opening and landed as gracefully as possible on the wood floor below, taking a look around for Travis.
There.
He was sitting up on his bottom bunk, facing the opposite of the window. Sure enough we were alone.
I walked up behind him and tapped his shoulder softly
Travis jumped violently, causing me to stumble back.
"What the Hell?" he cried, turning around to find me, wide eyed and scared out of my wits
"Katie? What are you doing in here?"
"I um wanted to talk to you about something" I said sheepishly
"Oh. Well uh, come sit down then" Travis said, a strange look in his eye
I came and sat on the bed with him, my stomach fluttering.
"So what did you want to talk about?" he asked
"Well…you see the other day I stumbled upon something"
"Uh huh"
"It was this" I pulled the papers out of my back pocket and pressed it into Travis's hand, biting my lip nervously
His eyes widened
"Is this? Oh Gods" he whispered, horrified
"Travis-"
"I'm so sorry Katie! I didn't mean for you to read it!"
"Travis-"
"You hate me don't you? Oh god I knew I should have burned the thing. I was so stupid! I thought ripping it up was enough-"
He didn't get one more word in. I had pressed my mouth to his, in a moment of pure instinct.
After getting over the shock of us kissing, Travis finally started to kiss me back, landing me in a moment of pure bliss.
After a moment he pulled away.
"If you would give me the chance to talk." I murmured "First off, you're not stupid. Second, I was going to say that I accept."
"What?" Travis replied dumbly
"Honestly Travis. I mean to your question in the note! I want to go out with you!"
"Really?"
"Yes really" I laughed
"Does that mean I can kiss you when I want now?" he asked cautiously
I blushed at the memory
"Well I guess-"
This time Travis cut me off with a kiss. This one was a lot different though. It was so full of passion. It gave me the feeling like my heart was about to burst.
I felt his hands rest on my waist. Loving the feeling, I acted on my own and brought my hands up to his head blindly, running my fingers through his curly brown hair, my mind mush.
SNAP
Travis and I broke our kiss.
"What the-"
"Connor!" I growled
The mischievous twin had a disposable camera aimed right at us, accompanied by none other than Stacey. Stacey's eyes widened and she scrambled for cover.
Travis jumped to his feet and ran out of the door, cursing at his brother for "running the moment", which brought a furious blush to my cheeks.
Stacey's head popped up and she mouthed sorry, continuing then to sneak away from the cabin quickly.
I shook my head and exited the Hermes cabin myself, this time through the front door.
Then Travis, sweating and heaving, skid to a halt right in front of me.
"Firework beach, seven o'clock?" he asked breathlessly
I grinned and nodded
"See you there"
AN: Better? Corny? Yes it's corny. Thanks for reading anyway.