ONE LAST TIME . . . heroes of olympus

35

TWAS THE DAY before Christmas and all was silent.

Not a creature was stirring, not even Clarisse the violent.

At least, until Kat woke up because she was drenched in ketchup, sitting up from her bed in shock.

"Happy birthday!" The Stolls cheered, making jazz hands at her.

She stared at them in shock. Then she leaped at them, screaming, "STOLLS!"

So after waking everyone in the entire camp up, Kat went to take the longest shower of her life, making sure to get every drop of ketchup off of her. After her shower, she dried her hair and put the gold birthday bitch headband that every child of Hermes wore when it was their birthday. The Hermes cabin wasn't a stranger to cursing. Then she put on the gold dress she was wearing when she had gone on the field trip with Jason, Piper, and Leo, and came out of the bathroom.

"Hey," Chris smiled at her as she walked out of the bathroom. He tapped the headband ( crown ) she was wearing. "Happy birthday, Kitty Kat."

She rolled her eyes, but she smiled as they started walking back to their cabin. "Thanks, Chris. What time is it?"

"Eleven," he told her. "You missed breakfast."

"Like I don't do that all the time," she laughed, smiling and thanking people as they wished her a happy birthday. "And the cabin? How stained is everything?"

"Just your bed and what was on it — your backpack got some of it, too," he reported, making her scrunch her nose up. "We put them all in the wash, though. And Travis and Connor are cleaning up their mess. They're waiting for you to berate them."

Kat nodded. "Good."

And she did that, as soon as she got back. She yelled at them for half an hour, before telling them that they were on cleanup duty until New Year's ( "But the tissue paper! And the wrapping paper!" "I don't give a shit, Con." ) and grabbing Cortana, inspecting it for any ketchup stains. Surprisingly, she saw none.

"We didn't get your sword, at least," Travis said helpfully.

"Yeah, because she would've sliced your throat open if you had," Cecil retorted. "We have to sing happy birthday!"

"You don't have a cake—" Kat argued, but it was too late. They started singing / screaming happy birthday, making her wince and absolutely want to die right then and there, quest to save the world be damned.

But then Julia brought out a present, wrapped in the most vile wrapping paper ever ( Santa and Rudolph were going to the bathroom. It was not a fun sight ), and Kat mumbled as they finished, "I hate you all."

"We got you a present, Kat, you love us," Connor stuck out his tongue at her.

"Open it! Open it!" Alice chanted.

Kat rolled her eyes before ripping the paper to shreds and opening the gift.

"You got me a safe," she said, staring at the black box that was in her hands.

Julia shrugged. "Yeah."

"Like you guys aren't children of Hermes and can unlock locks by touching them," Kat pointed out.

Cecil smirked. "You think we didn't plan for that?"

Kat gave him the finger. "I'm taking this home with me, thanks. Seriously. You didn't have to get me anything. I've been at camp for, like, three days since mid-August."

"Yeah, don't mention it," Chris waved her off. "Sorry we didn't get you a cake, but we didn't have time."

"You know how I like my cake," she said.