Tales of Camp Half Blood

Tale 7: The New Girl

JULY 3 LATE 90S OR 2000.

There was a new girl at camp, and one his age no less. It was something Travis had taken note of immediately, sure it wasn't uncommon for there to be a bunch of younger kids at camp, but that was mostly summer session. During the winter it was just him, his brother, Loretta, Katherine, Annabeth, Clarisse, Nolan, Lacy, and recently the Apollo boy Will as well. Though Travis kind of viewed Connor, Lacy and Will in another category as they were a few years younger than even him.

But the other day, a ten year old girl with long brown hair and green eyes had arrived at camp. He knew her name was Katie, but not much else. She hadn't stayed in the Hermes cabin at all, so he had yet to get a chance to talk to her. Her mother, Demeter, had claimed her a few hours after her arrival at camp.

In the days since her arrival he'd been too nervous to talk to her, though Travis couldn't understand why. He was normally great at talking to people and making friends. But for some reason this girl was different, every time he saw her and started to get the courage to talk to her, he'd freeze the moment her eyes met his.

He was currently laying in his bed in the Hermes cabin moping about it despite the fact it was midday and most people were playing or training outside. Unfortunately for him, his little brother had quickly taken note of his current predicament and had decided to make himself be as much of a nuisance as possible.

His brother was currently peeking down from the top bunk of their shared bunk bed, grinning like an idiot, "Travis and Katie sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a-"

Travis felt his face heat up impossibly bright, this wasn't the first time Connor had pulled that stupid rhyme out, but it hadn't gotten any less annoying. He grit his teeth and chucked a pillow straight at Connor's face before he had the chance to finish the lyrics.

Apparently his brother wasn't ready for the sudden attack, because he squealed and tipped over the side of his bunk to tumble to the ground. Connor landed with a loud bang and a groan, but Travis didn't feel sorry- his brother was being a brat and deserved it.

Of course that happened to be the moment Luke walked into the cabin, "Travis! What the Hades," his older brother hissed, walking swiftly over to help Connor up from the ground.

His brother's wrist was red, and there seemed to be tears in his eyes but he was laughing despite the obvious pain, "he was being annoying!" Travis instantly defended himself, crossing his arms in front of his chest defensively.

Luke gave him a disappointed look that almost made Travis feel bad, before turning to look at Connor again, "go find one of the Apollo kids and get your wrist checked," he ordered, giving their younger brother a tiny push on the back to get him moving towards the cabin door.

Connor stumbled away and Luke immediately turned back to Travis with a scathing look. Right before Connor left the cabin, he turned back to give Travis a mischievous smirk and stick his tongue out. He glared holes into the door his brother had just scurried away from for a moment before sighing and looking back to the disappointed expression of his older brother.

"Travis, you cannot push your brother off the bunk like that. He came out mostly fine but if he had landed badly he could have gotten seriously injured," Luke scolded.

He grumbled, averting his eyes to the side, "Connor was being a brat!" He defended, a blush rising to his cheeks, "he was making fun of me!"

Luke raised an eyebrow, "he's our little brother- and your full brother. That's kind of what younger siblings are for," Luke huffed in laughter, "so what awful things did he say to get you to react so violently!"

Travis's cheeks turned bright red, and he stubbornly refused to meet his older brother's eyes, "he kept saying I have a crush on the new girl."

He risked a glance back towards his brother to see that Luke had a barely concealed grin on his face, "Katie Gardner? The Demeter girl?"

Travis wanted to bury his face in his pillow and suffocate himself, now even Luke was getting on his case about this.

"I guess I'll take that as a yes," Luke snorted when Travis didn't immediately reply.

"It's not true!" Travis denied immediately voice raising in pitch as he did, "I'm just curious about her is all, and Connor is being a jerk about it!"

"If you want to talk to her, why don't you?" Luke pointed out, "you are far from antisocial, in fact you're one of the most social kids at this camp."

"I know, it's just- I don't wanna mess this up. She seems cool, what if she finds me annoying," Travis admitted.

"You, nervous?" Luke said incredulously, "I never thought I'd see the day."

"Shut up, Luke!"

Luke laughed at his protests, holding his hands up in mock surrender, "ok, ok sorry. But if you're too shy-"

"I'm not shy!" Travis protested instantly, causing Luke to sigh and shoot him an exasperated look.

"Fine, if you don't want to talk to her then why don't you do some kind of gesture for her," he said, "like maybe-"

Travis perked up, immediately tuning out his brother's words as his mind ran a mile a minute. A gesture. He could definitely do that, he wouldn't even have to talk to her and she would notice him. It was the perfect solution.

He grinned to himself, he had been planning a prank on the Ares cabin, but he could always shift it to the Demeter cabin. Katie would definitely notice him if he set the roof of her cabin on fire.

"Thanks Luke!" He exclaimed, cutting off whatever his brother had been rambling about and jumping up from his bed, "I have the perfect prank in mind!"

He dashed past Luke and out of the door, plans already forming in his head. He'd have to wait for a moment where all of them were out of the cabin, which was a more difficult task than it sounded. There always seemed to be at least one Demeter kid milling around the cabin during the day tending to the plants or relaxing outside.

They'd never trust him if he tried to distract them either. He'd have to cash in his favor with Lacy. He had been hoping to save it for later, she owed him one after he snuck her favorite lip gloss into camp, but he'd have to bite the bullet and call it in now.

Right now, the only person at their cabin seemed to be one of the older boys. He'd never leave at Travis's request, but if Lacy made up some fake scenario to get him away from the cabin he'd trust her. Lacy was like one of the sweetest kids in camp, no one would suspect she would be part of one of his pranks.

Travis grinned to himself, this was going to be epic.

————

Luke watched Travis dash out of the cabin with a mischievous grin on his face. He stared at the door with a hopeless look, "I meant get her flowers or something! Not a prank Travis!" He tried to yell after his brother, but he doubted Travis heard him.

He sighed to himself, Luke had a feeling that he was going to have to apologize to Claude later on his brother's behalf. He could already hear the amount of scolding he was about to get from the Demeter head counselor, and he doubted that Travis or Carlie, the head counselor of their cabin, would be willing to offer any apologies. His older sister would probably just laugh and high five Travis for a job well done.

Luke rubbed his forehead to banish the growing headache, this was going to be a long day. Whatever Travis had planned could be a worry for later though, for now he needed to go find Connor and make sure his other little brother didn't have a broken wrist.