Travis Stoll and the gardener - Katie Gardner and the idiot

Chapter 2

Travis

"Anyone else want to help me mess with Gardner?"

Instead of getting ten grins of agreement like Travis thought he would, he received ten know-it-all smirks instead.

"What?" he asked.

Conner laughed at him from the couch that he was laying on. "Katie is all yours, man."

Travis rolled his eyes. "Hilarious. Anyone want to cover her garden in powdered sugar? She hates it when we do that."

One of Travis's half sisters said, "Katie is your territory." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Travis rolled his eyes again. "You guys are no fun."

He was turning to leave just as someone called, "Have fun being with Katie!"

Travis just shook his head and picked up the ten pound bag of sugar.

The son of Hermes stealthily made his way to the Demeter cabin, though before heading towards the gardens, he noticed a flyer on the ground.

It read: DEMETER CABIN WEEKLY 'PLANT TALK' MOVED TO SATURDAY!

Travis's heart rate picked up.

Plant talk? Well, it was Saturday and Travis had a big bag of trickery. There was no way he could let an opportunity like this go.

He read the directions on the flyer and made his way into the woods. He couldn't find any flower kids, but he saw a small set up around a little garden. He snuck over to the garden and took a look at the plants.

Though, there weren't any. There was only a note saying 'Gotcha!'.

What?

Before he knew what was happening, something wrapped around Travis's foot, lifting him off the ground.

As he struggled away from the thing, he realized that he was hanging upside down. He had to be careful about getting down. He looked to the thing around his ankles.

It was a tree root.

Travis had heard of monsters in the woods, but not evil trees.

Then there was a laugh.

Travis groaned. He knew that laugh.

Katie Gardner.

Gods, out of all the people it could have been.

"Oh my," the dark-haired girl teased. She walked closer to him with slow steps. "Looks like you're way easier to prank than I thought you'd be."

Travis chose not to criticize her idea of a 'prank' and instead asked, "How'd you do this? The root thing."

Katie smirked and walked around him. "You're the first to see what I can do."

This time it was Travis's turn to smirk. "Ooo, you can control plants."

She frowned. "Laugh all you want, but who's hanging upside down and who isn't?"

Whatever.

"Why haven't you told anyone about what you can do?"

Katie shrugged and paced some more. Gods, she was annoying. "Who knows? Maybe there's a prophecy about a special child of Demeter who can control plants. I'm not ready for all that pressure. Prophecies are for people like... Well, people like Annabeth."

Travis grinned. "You want to be like Annabeth? What, you got a crush on Percy too?"

Katie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right."

"Huh..." Travis gave her a grin he knew she hated.  "Well, then who is the poor fellow who has caught your eye, hmm? That Leo kid? How about that junior from Ares's cabin?"

Katie just sighed. Something on the ground caught her eye. The bag of powdered sugar.

Katie's eyes lit up. "What's this? A lame attempt at ruining my plants?"

Travis could feel all of his blood rushing to his head. "Nah, I was going to use it on my waffles."

Katie nodded slowly like she was thinking hard about something.

"What should I do with this?" she asked about the sugar.

"You could cover your garden in it so I don't feel like I wasted a perfectly good Saturday afternoon."

Katie flicked her finger and two roots hooked underneath Travis's arms so he wasn't hanging upside down, but his feet still weren't touching the ground.

"Oh! I got it!" she exclaimed. "A make over! I heard about what you did to the Aphrodite cabin, I'm sure they would appreciate my work."

"No...I don't think anyone will."

Katie stepped closer and dug her hand into the sugar bag. "I'm pretty sure I will."

Travis clenched his jaw and looked at her with challenging eyes. She looked back at him.

"Now, hold still, please."

A little bit of smile slipped out on Travis's face, but he made it quickly disappear.

Katie must have caught a glance of the smile, because red started creeping into her cheeks.

She picked a strawberry from a nearby plant. Katie ripped it apart and smirked at Travis.

"Lipstick."

Travis tried to squirm away but the roots held onto him tightly. Katie laughed as she smeared the strawberry juice on him. "Aww, now look at you. So pretty."

"Do you like strawberries, Gardner?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, why?"

He grinned evilly at her. He leaned as close to her as he could, she didn't move. He stuck his lips out like he was going to kiss her. "Want a taste?"

Katie took a pinch of powdered sugar and flicked it at him. "Only in your dreams, Stoll."

He gave her his most annoying grin. "I'll be counting on it."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up and hold still."

"So, tell me, Gardner--"

"Katie. My name is Katie."

"Anyways, Gardner, may I ask why you've lured me into the woods to give a make over?"

Katie shrugged and smudged some sugar onto his cheek. "I wanted to know what it feels like to be on the opposite side of the prank. I have to admit, it's pretty rewarding. Especially when you end up looking like the idiot you are." 

"That hurts, Gardner, it really does. I must ask though, what are you going to do with me once I'm all prettied up?"

"Probably take a picture of you." Katie put a headband of flowers in his hair.

"And?"

"I mean, I could always use it for blackmail, but that's so cliché. I'll think of something."

"Once this fun get together is over, will everyone know of your super important super powers? Or will I have to keep this secret a secret?"

"Yeah, that I didn't think of when I was planning this out. I suppose I could use the picture of you to keep your mouth shut."

"Like I care if anyone sees me beautified. Chicks dig a guy with a feminine side."

The truth was, Travis was hoping she had forgotten to bring a camera or something, because he did not want anyone seeing him pranked by Katie.

"When it comes to what I can do, keep your mouth shut, Stoll."

He smirked. "Yes, ma'am".

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alrighty, well that was fun.

comments? concerns?