H is for Head Shot, Biotch!
"Oh, I'm Conner. I'm amazing. I get to play the 'I only have one kidney' card to clean the attic. Blah, blah, blah," Travis mocked under his breath as he walked down the hall in the Big House. He also mumbled something about a 'ducking glass mole' too.
Why was he cursing his brother and small glass moles? Well it all started earlier in the day when Conner bet that Travis wouldn't run around the camp naked. Travis, on the other hand, was all for it. Half way through, though, Chiron had caught up and hauled them both over to the Big House (after making Travis put some clothes on first, of course) to discuss their punishments. They had both lost all dessert privileges for three months and had to clean the Big House. Great punishment, right?
Travis and Conner had decided to split it in two. Right before Travis could call dibs on the attic - which had now been much easier to clean having Rachel as the new Oracle - Conner ran up the steps. Travis tried to protest - he was the older brother, he should be able to choose what he wants to clean - but Conner, as always, said, "But . . . but I only have one kidney. I don't know if I'd be able to handle cleaning the harder parts." Bull shit! Yeah, maybe he was born with one less kidney than normal. That doesn't mean he can't clean! Chiron, on the other hand, bought the stupid excuse, and now he we are.
Travis continued to walk down the hallway, a bucket in one hand and a mop in the other. While passing by the storage closet, he could've sworn he heard something. A sniffle? A sob? He took two steps back, and put his ear up against the hard wood of the door. Yep. Someone was crying alright. Gods, Travis hated crying people. They were so annoying and loud, and have you noticed that whenever people cry they're really ugly? He couldn't handle it.
But stupid, stupid Conner made Travis clean the bathroom which means he needs to get the mirror cleaner which means he needs to go into the closet with the crying person which means he's going to have to comfort them. Ugh!
Travis knocked slightly on the door before opening it. To his surprise, he found a girl curled up in the corner, but not just any girl. It was a girl with dark, brown hair and an Oreo cookies container on her lap. It was a girl that Travis never would have thought knew how to cry. "Katie?"
She looked up from the Oreo in her hand. Her dark eyes were shiny and puffy. She looked a bit like Rudolph with her bright, red nose. When light from the hallway hit her face, she stood up and wiped her eyes. "Travis."
"You all right?" he asked hesitantly while stepping into the large closet. She nodded her head. "Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Were you crying?"
"No."
"I think I heard -"
"I don't cry," she interrupted.
"Ok," Travis mumbled. "But are you sure you're all right?"
Katie couldn't handle it anymore. Her bottom lip quivered a bit and she shook her head. The tears came fast and she grabbed for the closest object to cry on to: Travis. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head in his shoulder. She mumbled something that became muffled and inaudible by the fabric of Travis's shirt.
"What?" he asked, while gently and awkwardly wrapping his arms around her back and rubbing in small circles.
"We broke up," she said once more. Again, it was hard to understand, but Travis got the message.
"What?"
"Andrew and I. We broke up."
"Who?"
Katie took her face off his shoulder and looked up at him. "Andrew? From the Apollo cabin? My boy-" She stopped herself. "Ex-boyfriend," she sobbed before crying again into Travis's chest.
"You have a boyfriend?" he asked, confused.
"Had."
"Since when?"
She took her head off his shoulder to look at him once again. "We went out for, like, 2 months."
"Really?"
Katie nodded and gave him a look that clearly said, 'Where the hell have you been?'
"Well, sorry I haven't been stalking you lately," he joked. She made some sound between a cry and a laugh, Travis wasn't really sure, and buried her head once more. "Why don't we sit down?" He coaxed her off of his shoulder and got her to sit back down in the corner, this time with Travis right next to her. "So what happened?"
She sniffled and grabbed another Oreo, breaking it in half and licking the frosting. Travis went to grab one too, but Katie hit his hand out of the way. "What are you doing?"
"Grabbing an Oreo?"
"No, no, no. These are mine."
"I can't have one?"
"Nope."
"What if I asked nicely?"
"No! These are my Oreos."
"I can't just have one?"
"No, no you can't."
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"What the hell is wrong with me? What the hell is wrong with you? Stealing people's Oreos." She shook her head. "You need to be medicated."
Travis shook his own head and tried to forget about the cookie for a little while. "Just tell me what happened with Andrey."
"Andrew."
"Like I care." He grabbed for another cookie, but got hit once again. "Who broke up with who?"
"Well, we kind of broke up with each other."
"Why?"
"Well, he broke up with me because he said I wasn't in the relationship. He said I was always complaining about y-" She broke off and bit her lip. "Other people," she finished. "He said I was in love with them."
"Oo-o-o!" Travis mocked. "Who's this 'other people'?"
"Oh, well his first name's None Of and his last name's Your Business."
"Psh! I should've known! Who doesn't love him? I will admit, I became gay for a week or two the first time I met him."
Katie couldn't help but laugh slightly and shake her head. "I know, right? That None Of is just too gorgeous."
"Fine, I won't keep bugging you about it, but why'd you break up with him?"
"Oh." She smiled slightly and finished off the Oreo in her hand. "One time, when we were making out-"
"Do I wanna hear this?" Travis interrupted.
"Let me finish. So we were making out in the Strawberry Fields when he suddenly moans his mom's name."
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Travis bust up laughing. "His . . . his mom's name?"
Katie waited for him to stop laughing before she continued speaking. "Yeah. He was all, 'Oh, Barbara.'" She cracked up along with Travis this time at her terrible impersonation.
"Really?" he spit out in between chuckles. She nodded. "Oh my gods!" They continued to laugh for a few minutes. "I can totally see why you'd break up with him."
"Yeah. Plus, he's like totally obsessed with Call of Duty. We barely ever hung out cuz he was always playing that."
"Wait," Travis said, grabbing for another Oreo and getting hit once more. "Is he the one that's always going, 'Head shot, bitch!'?" Katie nodded. "Dude! He killed me, like, ten times yesterday! I was so pissed!"
She laughed. "Yeah. He was pretty obsessed. Oh! And he liked muffins."
"Muffins?"
Katie nodded. "Muffins."
"Ugh! I hate muffins. They're such wannabe cupcakes."
"Exactly! How lame can you get?"
They sat in silence for a minute. "But have ever thought about the cupcake?" Travis asked.
"What about it?"
"It's kind of a wannabe, too, except with normal cakes."
"Have you gone to the Dark Side, Travis?"
"No, I promise I'm still a cupcake-er, but they are just smaller versions of cakes. Muffins aren't the only ones that wish they were something else."
She shook her head in mock disappointment. "You have gone to the Dark Side."
Travis laughed slightly and lay down on the dark floor. He pulled on a lock of Katie's hair. "Come on," he said.
"But it's gross and dirty."
"You can take a shower." She grumbled something under her breath and lay down next to him. "There you go."
They lay in a blissful silence together for a few minutes, just thinking. "Are you happy?" Travis asked.
She turned her head and looked at him. He did the same, and Katie couldn't help but notice just how close the two were. "Happy about what?" Her voice slightly choked on the last word. He was messing with her mind.
"About yours and Anthony's-"
"Andrew."
"Whatever. About the breakup. Are you happy about it?"
She turned her gaze away from his eyes and back towards the ceiling. It was harder to think, she realized, while staring into those baby blues. "I think."
"You think?"
"I think." She felt his hand on her cheek as he forced her to look at him. "I've never had a boyfriend before, you know? I've never broken up with anyone and nobody's broken up with me. It's just kind of sad and depressing."
"I know what you mean. When Jillian broke up with me, I never thought I'd be happy again."
"But you are happy again, right?"
He nodded and smiled, gazing into her eyes. "Yeah, I'm happy." Katie couldn't help but smile, too, and blush slightly. They lay there for a few more minutes in silence. Suddenly, Travis starts laughing.
"What's so funny?" A scowl had replaced the smile on her lips.
"Nothing." He shook his head with a smirk on his mouth. "It's just you're so vulnerable when you're gazing lovingly into my eyes."
"What? I was so not gazing lovingly into your eyes!"
"Yeah you were. It's hard not to, really."
Katie rolled her eyes. "What do you mean I'm vulnerable?"
"Well, it's so easy to just go like that" - he snapped and pulled an Oreo out of her ear - "and get yourself a cookie."
She gasped and grabbed for the Oreo, but he shoved it in his mouth just in time. "I hate you, you know?"
He answered, mouth full and crumbs falling out of the corners of his lips, "I know."
1 hour later . . .
Travis walked out of the Big House and out towards the Archery Range. As per usual, most of the Apollo cabin was out there shooting arrows and being the annoying jack-asses they are. He singled out his target. There he was. Five foot nine, blond hair, green eyes, "Absolutely gorgeous!" according to the Aphrodite girls. Travis walked up to said victim.
"You Andrew?" he asked.
Andrew looked a bit confused, amused, and slightly scared once seeing the anger in Travis's eyes. "What's it to you?"
Travis wasn't interested in introductions or confrontations. He punched Andrew square in the face, sending him to the ground with a crack.
"What the hell was that for?" he shouted.
Once again, Travis didn't answer his question. Before walking away, he yelled, "Head shot, bitch!"