I'm going through a Tratie phase right now, so for those who's annoyed by this storyline: sorry! and for those who like it, ur welcome! Last part so hope you like it! So, this is from Kayla Parent, just informing you again. Ok, so vote, comment and enjoy!

Tratie (pt 4.)

2673 words
•••

~Night of the Party~

Me and Miranda are on our lawn across from Travis's. But my mind is far from the party. My minds racing about last night. And my feelings for Travis and what I should do with this prank war. Finally, Miranda interrupts my thoughts.

"Okay, what's going on with you?" She asks while she stops in her tracks.

"You're quiet, you're never quiet. And you haven't even talked about step four yet, thankfully." She raised an eyebrow and grinned "Did something happen with Travis last night?"

"Yes. No...Maybe?" I said but it's came out sounding like a question

"What?"

"This thing with him, it's complicated." I scrunched my face in confusion "He said he misses me"

"Wow"

"And I said it back, because I do!" I exclaim. "And now I can't back out because of this stupid prank war! And Matt's waiting-"

Miranda cuts me off while grabbing my upper arm and dragging me to a secluded area of Travis's front lawn.

"Hey! What are you doing?" I asked

"For once your going to listen to me"

"God, your nails are like talons!"

"Katie!"

"Okay, okay, what is it?"

"For years, I've been running around behind you, trying to keep up. I don't mind, because I love the person you are but, for once, slow down with me. Think this thing through with Travis"

"But-"

"Five years ago, with that whole thing with Drew, I told you to talk to Travis. Find out his side, and what did you do?"

"I pushed his head into the cake" I said guiltily

She nodded "Exactly, and look where that got you. So i'm telling you that same thing tonight, talk to him. Don't do this thing with Matt, because if you do, you'll regret it."

I smile at her and pull her in for a hug. "Okay"

She pulled away quickly, wide eyes. "What?!"

"I'll talk to him"

"It's a miracle" she put her arms up in the air "I finally got through with you!"

I shake my head, roll my eyes playfully and head to Travis's front door.

I shrugged "Well, I just really don't wanna kiss Matt"

As I walk through the door, I'm feeling lighter than I have in years. My eyes scan the crowd for Travis. I can't spot him anywhere. Miranda and I go upstairs and then look over at his room to see that his bedroom door opens. I quickly hide behind a tall cabinet, pulling Miranda with me, watching who exits.

He comes out and following behind him is Drew Tanaka.

She's adjusting her skirt and fixing her lipstick. And I can tell that she's been hooking up. My world comes crashing down and I feel my blood boil.

"I should have known" I ball my fists up and glance into his room and spot a bouquet of flowers in there. "And he got flowers for her too, unbelievable"

"You don't know anything" she shakes her head "who knows what they were doing-"

"I was about to fall for his crap again" I feel tears clouding my vision but I quickly blink them away. "I'm such an idiot"

"Katie please-"

"Good thing it's not too late" I feign a grin "Plan's back on, I'm ending this once and for all"

I storm down the stairs, ignoring Miranda scolding me from behind, spot Matt and storm towards him. But just before I reach him, I'm intercepted by Travis.

"There you are, I've been looking for you" He smiles at me.

"Have you?" My words sound bitter and he noticed by furrowing his eyebrows. But he quickly wipes the confused expression off his face and shifts it to another smile.

"Listen, I was hoping we could talk, I had fun last night" he grabs my hand "Heck, I've had fun all week, and I meant what I said...I miss you. Well I more than miss you, I.."

He reaches up and draws his knuckles down my face. I lean into his touch, letting myself for a few seconds.
"You..?"

"I like you Katie" he finally spat out "I've always liked you. Let's end this prank war now. Come on what do you say?"

I contemplate, but then I spot Drew over his shoulder staring at us. Then Matt catches my eye and raises his brow. I nod in response, then pull away from Travis.

"What do I say?" I let my words linger as I make my way past Travis, towards Matt. He pulls me in his arms and before I can take a breath, his mouth is on mine. Matt's kissing me. His lips are dry and chapped and his mouth tastes like a mint explosion.

I hate it

I pull away and when I see Travis's hurt expression, I know the damage is done. Gut-punched I force myself to mouth two words to him.

"I. Win."

Travis shakes his head and runs out of the room. I rip myself from Matt and run a shaking hand through my hair. Miranda approaches on my right and she's fuming.

"I can't believe you!" she states

"He had a girl in his room, Miranda"

"Drew just told me she and one of Travis's friends were hooking up in his bed. And Travis kicked them out"

"Oh"

Oh crap

But I steel myself, remembering what he did to me years ago. "Whatever, he still cant be trusted"

"Two seconds and you would have seen the other guy  leave the room after Drew" She shakes her head, disappointed "None of this would have happened"

"But-"

"No, I'm done listening to you," she backs away from me "and I'm not cleaning up your mess this time, you do it."

She storms away, this time leaving me in the dust.

•••

I exit the house and see a light coming from the treehouse. From the window, I could see Travis thrashing the place.

My heart splits and I rush up to stop him. "What are you doing?! Stop it!"

"Why?! None of this means nothing to you!" He looks up angrily at me "Why should I care?!"

I cross my arms "So, because you're a sore loser, you're going to destroy everything?"

"You already did that on your own" he scowls "I'm just taking out your trash"

"How can you even say that after what you did?"

"WHAT I DID?!" He yells at me but softens his voice after seeing me wince. "You mean, pour my heart out like a lovesick idiot? I basically admitted to you that I'm in love with you! And you think I would have learned my lesson the first time."

He's in love with me?

"What are you talking about the first time?" I ask "Are you delusional-"

"Don't play dumb. Five years ago, when our friendship started to turn into something more, you couldn't handle it."

"Couldn't handle it?!" I defended myself "I wrote that letter telling you I was in love with you!"

"Yeah" he nodded sadly "and then the next night, you humiliated me in front of everyone and never spoke to me again. Playing these dumb pranks was the only way I'd get even a scrap of your attention, and you never even said you were sorry!"

"How dare you blame this on me!" I exclaimed "I saw you kiss Drew that night, Travis!"

"What the heck are you talking about?!"

"You kissed Drew! So yeah! I pushed your face into your cake. Because it was YOU who made a fool of me by kissing her!"

Travis looks shell-shocked. I cross my arms, fuming. "I wasn't going to go through with the Matt thing tonight, you know. Not after spending time with you this week and after last night. But then I got here, and find you with Drew again-"

"I caught Drew-"

"Yeah Miranda told me and I saw the flowers-"

"They were for you"

What

He nodded "I kicked them out because I didn't want my room a mess when we came in there, and I was gonna give you the flowers and yeah.." he scratched the back of his neck

Oh

There was a moment of silence between us but I quickly broke it. "That doesn't change what happened in eighth grade-"

"I turned her down"

"What?"

"That night. I turned Drew down. I read that letter you wrote me a hundred times. Remember what you asked me?"

I shake my head, lost for words

"You asked me to be your first kiss. And god, I wanted to be. So badly. But I was nervous. I couldn't have cared less that it was my birthday. All I could think about was you. And then Drew asked me what was wrong. I was so anxious, so I told her. Said I wanted it to be perfect. Next thing I know, her lips are on mine."

"So you admit it!"

"I had no idea she was gonna kiss me! I may have frozen because I didn't see it coming. But I didn't kiss her back"

I felt tears cloud my vision again

"But i'm guessing that's what you saw, and if you stuck around for a few seconds, not run off half cocked like you always do. You would've seen that I pushed her away"

I feel a tear run down my cheek. I don't want to believe any of this, but I can see the sincerity in his eyes.

"Then somehow my face ends up in a cake, and you hate me. I've made my mistakes too, Katie. I should've talked to you back then, but I thought we were fixing stuff now. Making up for lost time."

"Travis.."

"I finally got my best friend back this week...only to learn that she hasn't changed"

He walks past me, not looking me in the eyes, to the ladder.

"You win Katie. White flag waved. I'm done."

He climbs down, leaving me up here alone.

                                 ~Graduation~

I'm sitting in my kitchen wearing my graduation cap and gown. But the last thing I feel like doing is celebrating. I pull out my phone, and see all the text messages I've sent to Travis have gone unanswered. I don't blame him. Even though we have those stupid arguments after pranks, I've never blown up at him like that and I've never seen him that upset.  Same goes to Miranda. This is our first and only fight and she hasn't been talking to me. And when I try to talk to her, she ignores me and acts like I'm not here.

She hates me.

Travis hates me.

Everyone probably hates me.

And I deserve it.

My stomach feels hollow. Even though I'm not hungry, I walk to the cabinet, get a bowl, and get a box of cereal. I think about sending Travis another text but I know it won't make a difference. Devastated I put my head in my hands and force myself to take a deep breath.

"A stupid text message won't fix anything" I mutter to myself "Think Katie, think"

A few seconds pass by and my phone pings. I look down at it and it's Miranda's boss from the bakery. The message read:

Hey Katie! Just circling back about the job offer. Are you still interested?

I read her words over. My mind starting to race. I reach into the cabinet and grab the flour.

I've got an idea.

•••

Carrying a huge box while in a graduation cap and gown isn't easy, but hopefully it'll be worth it.

The box is large and blue. And when I walk onto the football field, people immediately notice me. Of course, they think it has do to with the prank war, and assume somethings gonna happen. They start following me but I don't pay them any attention. My eyes start scanning around the crowd for one person. I find him standing near the thirty yard line.

"Hi, this is for you"

Travis looks at me warily. "What are you doing Katie?"

"Something I should you have done a long time ago" I open the box and reveal the cake. On it in icing are the words 'I'm Sorry'

He barely spares it a glance. "This is nice and all..but it's a little too late"

"I know" I nodded "And that's why I want you to push my face into it.

"You're kidding me"

"It's chocolate, just like your cake in eighth grade."

He doesn't say a thing, he just raises his eyebrows.

"Come on, I'm ready"

"Have you lost your mind?"

I take a step toward him "Travis, I am so sorry. For jumping to conclusions. For acting without thinking. And for wasting five years without my best friend. Truth is, I'd do anything to go back to that night in eighth grade. I never wanted to hurt you"

He still says nothing and stares at me expressionless.

"Forget it, this was stupid" I'm about to close the box and walk away, but then Travis takes a small piece of the cake and shoves it in my face. I put the box down and the crowd around us stills.

"I should've known something wasn't right that night" He smiles "I should have talked to you, I shouldn't have been so proud and full of myself. And I'm especially sorry for making you wait all this time"

I scrunch my eyebrows "For what?"

"For this"

He pulled me in his arms and kissed me. It feels like I've been waiting years for this, and I realize I have. When he pulls away, I touch my lips with my finger. "Wow"

"Yeah, that was something" he nodded

"No, I meant the cake" I smiled "it's pretty good"

He laughs and pulls me in for another kiss. But Miranda interrupts and shoves a big piece of cake into both of our faces.

"I'm officially declaring the end of this prank war." She states "And myself as the winner for putting up with both of you"

We both laugh and I turn to Miranda. "I'm sorry"

She smirks "I know" She turns to the crowd. "Alright everyone, let's move and leave these two love birds together."

The crowd follows her orders and disperses, leaving me and Travis alone.

"This is actually really good" he smiles as we wipe off the large residue of the cake on our faces with the napkins I brought along.

"I'm glad to hear you say that, you know that bake shop Miranda works at?" I ask him

He nods

"Well, I start there next week"

"You got a job!" he beams at me "I knew you would"

There's so much unspoken between us and we both go to talk at the same time.

"Katie you-"

"Travis, you-"

He chuckles and then grips my waist. "There will be time to talk later. Especially since that bake shop is just across the street from my trade school." he states as he kissed my forehead 

"You're not getting any freebies, Stoll"

"I'd never dream of it, Gardner" he smirked

God I missed that smirk..and him

"Now come on, let's go graduate"

"After you, big head"

Travis lets go of my waist and puts his arm around me, and we start to walk. Everything is perfect, but there's one thing. I turn to him.

"Wait, what was it?"

"What was what?"

"Your big prank!" I start to lightly smile "I mean you have to admit, despite everything, mine was pretty well executed."

He shrugged "I guess you'll never know"

As we kept walking, I look up at him and see a twinkle in his eyes..and I can't help to think that if this was his plan all along.