fake | tratie | EDITING |

| vi. believable and proud |

edited : 1 . 31 . 22

original word count : 1250

new word count : 1561

. . .

It didn't take long for word to get around the camp: Travis and Katie were together.

Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner. Together.

The long-gossiped about couple was official, they finally came to terms with their feelings for each other. They set aside their differences and decided that they wouldn't want to be with anyone else.

That's what we wanted them to think, anyway.

It took about a half hour for everyone to come up and ask me if it was true. I said it was.

I was dating Travis Stoll.

Obviously, I told Miranda and Nat what was going on immediately, so they wouldn't jump all over me. I explained that I was just in it to give Ashley what was coming to her, and that I owed him. They were totally understanding, which was a miracle. Calypso, when I talked to her, pointed out that I sounded excited about it, and I was quick to shut her down. I didn't want to do this, I had to in order to get even with him.

Totally not.

I really did appreciate that he didn't force me into it, though. He'd let me choose. Clearly, there wasn't much choice: refuse and let Travis have something to hold against me, or resolve all of it. But he still hadn't pressured me, he just laid it out and waited for me to give him an answer.

Now that the information was out, I knew I'd have to be careful. It wasn't just Ashley who had a craving for Travis - no, he was the resident crush around camp. No matter if it was an Ares kid or a Hecate or an Aphrodite, his easygoing attitude had a good handful of people pining for him bad. And he knew it, too. He was, after Percy, one of the most drooled-over demigods.

For whatever reason, I had no idea.

Going anywhere meant getting curious glances or jealous glares from people, and it made my anxiety pique. I hadn't thought that part of it out yet; I didn't assume people would express opinions besides the "I told you so"s and "Took you long enough"s. I hated all the attention it was causing, and for the rest of the day I regretted agreeing to the plan.

At least my activities were away from him until dinner - I was in the strawberry fields until noon, I skirted him at lunch, and I spent the rest of the day straightening up the cabin and tending to the roof. I had to think things through, to consider if I really wanted to keep this up.

But I'd already agreed to it, and backing out now would make both of us look stupid.

All my questioning went out the window, however, when he came up to me at dinner and slid onto the bench next to me.

His warm hand rested on mine, and a brief tingle shot up my arm. "Heya, Kates." He beamed, and my siblings stopped their chatter to see what would happen.

"Trav, this is the Demeter table. If you're looking for Hermes, it's right over there." I pointed to the table Connor and the other Hermes kids were causing a ruckus and dumping mountains of salt all over each other's food.

"I'd rather sit with you than have my food asSALTed." His few freckles danced as he laughed at his own pun.

I rolled my eyes dramatically, stifling my giggle. "You're stupid. It's a good thing you're cute."

Annoyingly enough, it didn't feel forced to say it.

"It's good for me, too." He winked. "But actually, I just came over to ask you if you wanted to go to fireworks with me tonight."