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"Katie, you're wet... did they throw you into the lake again?"
After this question, she only stared Miranda down and wordlessly demanded a towel. Miranda smiled and brought her one. Meanwhile, the older Demeter daughter stood freezing in the entrance area of cabin 4 and cursed everything that had two legs. Okay not all them had two legs, a few of them also had four legs. How many times had she been thrown into this stupid canoe lake? Certainly, about twenty times. Or more often. She didn't want to think about it anymore. But she knew all the others in this camp well enough to know that she would soon be in the same position yet again. Because they were all assholes.
Well, with one exception which is Travis Stoll. Yes, yes, Travis Stoll. But he only got avoided by Katie's curses, because he was in no different position. Because some fine day a wonderful little camper came up with the idea that Travis and she would make such a beautiful couple that they really should get together now. Soon many campers talked about this stupid idea and for some reason they found it totally great and absolutely plausible. They were obviously so in love and made for each other. Yeah, she and Stoll? How the fuck was that supposed to work?
In any case, the people then became impatient and basically demanded that the two should finally get together. And when Katie thought about it, this was just one more reason not to be with Travis. Because no one, absolutely no one could tell Katie Gardner what she had to do or not! Just no one! But the campers didn't care much about it and at some point, the tradition of ‘Act as if 'Tratie' got together, threw them into the lake and hope that they really get together" was born. Always living by the motto, if it doesn't work out today, we'll try it again tomorrow.
That's when Miranda came back with the towel. Katie grabbed it and sprinted into her room. On the one hand, because she desperately needed dry clothes, and on the other hand, because she wanted to hide from Miranda, who shouted at her: "Why don't you just try it with him? You'd certainly be sweet together." No thanks, not in this life. Dry and warmed up again, Katie decided to hide in her favorite greenhouse. There she wanted to go from the beginning anyway, but then Travis ran into her and by the time they had only seen each other, they knew it was going to happen again. It always happened when the two were closer than 10 meters together.
They had Travis go so far that he no longer dared to play pranks on Katie. And if so, then only very small, fast, harmless ones. Katie on the other hand no longer dared to chase him furiously through the camp. Because all this brought the danger of being thrown, yet again, into that stupid lake. And then they had to hear them all talking about this again; they’d have to walk through the camp again, freezing and somewhat humiliated.
You could almost call it mental torture! And well… she and Travis could actually make this a hell of a lot easier for them if they just dated for a week or two and proved to everyone that they certainly don't fit together. So they could stop this bullshit and then live on as normal. The problem with that? Well, "no one told Katie Gardner what to do or not", she wouldn't just let herself get ordered around. Nope. She was definitely too stubborn for that. And if she watched Travis, who even shut up his little brother immediately every time he even mentioned Katie, he probably felt the same. Connor was also such a shipper and Katie almost felt sorry for Travis. Her main shipper was Miranda, but at least she didn't have to sleep in the same room with her. This way, you could at least flee from it. In the greenhouse, she then hid in the farthest corner and manned the smallest watering can she could find. She did that so she had to refill water again and again, which meant it took her twice as long for everything and she only had to return to the cabins late in the evening.
With the "just get out of the way" tactic, she dodged the lake for exactly three days. Then she suddenly ran into the Stoll brothers, who ran around the corner at that very moment to escape a few Ares children. Those Ares children had then allied themselves with Connor and ten minutes later Katie hoisted herself onto the dock and decided to hide towels on the beach.
Later in her room she blew her hair dry and took her notebook off her shelf. Here she had listed lots of facts about plants, her care and rearing, as well as useful notes, such as when Drew had her period and thus one had to avoid the Aphrodite cabin at all costs, all the birthdays of her friends, in which shop their favorite sweets were cheapest and so on. But now she started another list on a new page:
A tradition of the campers: Throw Travis and me into the lake like a new couple until they actually become a couple.
First time landed in the lake: 14.8.
Total count: IIII IIII IIII IIII III
Special remarks:
-At number 12 Kara from Iris accidentally fell into the lake as well; a good day
-Number 23 was the point from which I decided to hide towels on the beach
At the bottom of the page, she added:
I'm certainly not giving in, you fuckers. You can do this with everyone, but not with KATIE GARDNER!
After being dry and satisfied, Katie grabbed a stack of towels and sneaked to the beach. There she placed the stack under a bush and then let some plants grow over and below it so that they were hidden from everyone’s view as well as safe from the water. Three in-the-lake-throws later, Travis had learned from her and hid towels for himself on the entire beach too. He wasn't as stupid as he looked apparently.
And one would think that at some point she would have buckled, she really wouldn't have it anymore, but no, it happened the other way around. After seven months, two weeks and one day, it was finally over. No more in-the-lake throwing. The camp had given up. Travis and Katie were now officially considered as 'not suitable as a couple - really hate each other'. Katie was really proud when she updated her notebook for the last time:
A tradition of campers: Throw Travis and me into the lake like a new couple until they actually become a couple.
First time landed in the lake: 14.8.
Total count: IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII
IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII
IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII
II
Last time landed in the lake: 29.3.
Special remarks:
-At number 12 Kara from Iris accidentally fell into the lake as well; a good day
-Number 23 was the point from which I decided to hide towels on the beach
-From number 26 on Travis also had towels ready
-At number 42, Connor & Lou were thrown in with us (for them it was real)
-At number 79 Clarisse "accidentally" destroyed the dock
-At number 82, Travis had ultra-strong paint bombs with him -> lake was purple for 3 weeks
-Number 94 was on Chris' birthday because he wished for it, the bastard
-Number 132 (last time), was a "Just once again, okay? One last time, okay?" yes, Leo, fuck you too
I'm certainly not giving in, you fuckers. You can do this with everyone, but not with KATIE GARDNER!
After the last time the whole camp was quite disappointed. Katie was fine with that; she was just glad that all this nonsense had come to an end. Even if she had to deal with Travis' pranks again. But hey, at least she had her fun afterwards. Such a chase with subsequent beating was wonderful to relieve stress. Oh yes, she had actually missed it so much. Now she felt much more balanced!
It was about two weeks after her last time in the lake, when Katie looked at Travis and thought he wasn't even looking that bad. And he could also be really sweet if he wanted to. And because no one told her to try it with him anymore... she really wanted to try it with him. And since Katie wasn't a woman of great planning, she just ran off looking for Travis. Luckily, she found him on the beach, waved him to him, and, after he hesitantly approached her, she asked, "Hey Stoll, would you like to go out with me?"
"What?"
"Well, do you want to be my boyfriend? Like, with dates and everything?"
"Uhm, why not?" They grinned, then Travis suddenly laughed and said, "We're really stubborn idiot. Am I correct in assuming that you only asked this now, because no one wants to force you to get together with me anymore?"
"Yes, correct."
"And that we would probably have been a couple a long time ago, had the others just done nothing from the beginning."
"Correct again."
"Oh, come here," he said with a laugh, giving her the kiss that the whole camp wanted for so long and now... missed. Well, the only thing Katie could say to that was: Suck it, losers.