Don't Stop Believing
By: Riley
.:Chapter One – Big Time Hello:.
"Come on! Wake up! Wake up! Let's go!"
Kendall Knight groaned as his sister, Katie Knight, jumped onto his back, shaking his shoulders. It wasn't the pain that caused him to groan, it was the fact that he was really tired. Just two hours ago he and his best friends James Diamond, Carlos Garcia, and Logan Mitchell, also known as Big Time Rush had arrived back at the Palm Woods after their first three month tour to promote their first album.
During the tour they had gotten a lot of recognition from fans, even going as far as getting chased down the streets when they got to new cities. Because of the fame, Gustavo Rocque, their music producer, was able to book a couple of nicer venues than just fairs and mall concerts. But because of that that meant that they had to work harder than usually. It didn't bother them at all, really, because it just showed that what they loved to do was paying off. As the tour went on, they celebrated James's 17 birthday, his being the first of the four. Carlos' being the next closest as his was August 15th, a week or so away. Now they were resting in apartment 2J, the one that they had left behind to go on tour.
At least, that was until Katie started running around, getting all of them up. Across the room, Logan let out a whining sound and rolled over on his bed, scrunched up in a ball.
"Katie, leave us alone." Kendall didn't open his eyes as he shooed his sister away, "We're jet lagged, let us sleep."
"Katie, honey," Mrs. Knight, Kendall's mother and the temporary guardian of all the boys, appeared in the bedroom doorway. "Let them sleep. They're exhausted from their tour."
"But mom," Katie sighed impatiently. "I thought they would want to know that the Jacksons are coming back today. A whole three days earlier than expected." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Excuse me for thinking that they would want to see their friends." At that, Kendall's and Logan's eyes flew open and they leapt off of their beds.
"They're coming home?" Logan questioned as his eyes widened in disbelief. "Today?"
"Katie!" Kendall pouted, looking annoyed. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Katie let out a scoff as she rolled her eyes, fishing her cell phone out of her pocket.
"I just got their text," she explained pointedly. "Which I'm sure all of you guys got. But you were too busy sleeping to look at your phones." She then nodded. "But yes, they're coming home. Like, right now."
"Mom!" Kendall grabbed onto his mother's shoulders and gently shook her. "Drive us to the airport! Now!" Mrs. Knight raised her eyebrows, giving her son a hard look as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I mean, please?" he grinned. "I love you."
"What's going on?" James demanded as he walked into the room, looking annoyed. "We're minding our own business trying to get some sleep and I hear is yelling." He glared at his friends. "And do you know what lack of sleep does?"
"Makes you a whining baby?" Logan asked.
"No!" James snapped. "It makes me cranky, and when I get cranky I get wrinkles in my forehead! AND I DON'T NEED WRINKLES IN MY FOREHEAD!"
"Check your cell phone, dude." Kendall replied.
James reached a hand into his pocket, still glaring at his friends, and pulled out his cell phone. He quickly flipped it open to see the text message that he had and then flipped the phone shut again, shoving it back in his pocket. He turned around and walked back to his bedroom and it was only a matter of seconds before they heard the sounds of James yelling at Carlos to wake up, the sound of a pillow hitting something, and the sounds of Carlos' screams. A few seconds later, James came back out of the room, dragging Carlos behind him.
"We're ready to go!" he declared with a wide smile, causing Katie, Kendall, and Logan to burst out laughing.
"Alright," Mrs. Knight sighed heavily, not having as much sleep as the boys, but knowing how anxious they were to see their friends. "Let me just get my keys."
The Jacksons are a family band that consists of five kids, three boys and two girls, Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney Jackson, their band name being the DarkElements. Big Time Rush met them after their managers Gustavo and the Jacksons' adoptive father, Robert, said that the two bands couldn't be friends and that they were going to be Rivals. Big Time Rush and the DarkElements didn't want that, but their managers did, Robert even went as far as to steal the song Big Time Rush and pass it off as the DarkElements' song. Once Big Time Rush found out they were mad at the DarkElements until they helped Big Time Rush get proof that they didn't know that it was stolen and that it was their dad's idea. After that, the two bands became friends and Riley, Rhuben, and Logan remembered that they used to know each other when they were much younger and became best friends again. At this time the Jacksons were being abused by Robert and Big Time Rush helped them get rid of him. After that, their friendship grew as they worked on music, hung out at the Palm Woods, and got to know each other. The DarkElements had also gone on a 3 month tour, but they went on the tour back in their hometown of Sydney, Australia. Now they were back and the guys were rushing to meet them once their plane landed.
"Can't this car move any faster?" Katie demanded from the front seat as her brother and his friends were all squished into the back.
"Not unless you want me to go over the speed limit and get a ticket," Mrs. Knight replied as she kept her eyes on the road and her foot on the gas pedal. There were going at a fast enough speed of 65 miles per hour, but it was obvious that she wasn't going fast enough for them.
"Who cares if you get a ticket?" Katie continued her rant. "It's only a piece of paper, and you only live once. And your life will be incredibly boring if you don't take a risk." Mrs. Knight snorted as she looked over at her daughter.
"Do you want to drive?" she questioned, causing Katie to immediately perk up.
"Can I?" she asked eagerly.
"Katie, I have a better chance of driving than you do." Kendall replied as he rolled his eyes. "And we all know what happened the last time I tried driving."
"Yeah, we still have the dent in the garage to prove it." Katie replied, sticking her tongue out.
Kendall smiled a bit at the memory; it was actually his friends' idea for him to drive. Well, everybody except Logan. Kendall had mentioned that his mom was gone at the diner to work and Katie was over a friend's house and the car was just sitting in the garage. Already knowing what his friends had in mind, Logan started trying to guilt Kendall into thinking about what would happen if he got caught driving without a permit or a license. James and Carlos on the other hand had gathered around their friend chanting 'do it' over and over again until he agreed. That ended up with Kendall behind the steering wheel, Logan in the passenger seat, and James and Carlos bouncing around like idiots in the back.
Long story short, Logan's constant shrieking of fear caused Kendall to forget whether the car was in Drive or Reverse and he floored it into the garage. His mother definitely wasn't happy about that one, and Katie was able to do almost anything she wanted after that.
"I told you that you should have waited for your mom to get home," Logan said from where he was squished in between James and Carlos. "But did anyone listen to me? No!"
"Sorry, did you say something?" Carlos questioned as he looked over at his friend.
"I need to get new friends," Logan muttered to himself as he rubbed his forehead, trying to ward away yet another headache.
It was another ten minutes before they were able to get to the airport, park the car, and get inside the terminal. Katie checked her text message again, to find out what gate they were coming in from and then they decided to wait. They didn't have to wait long as the flight was announced over the intercom and people started to spill out into the terminal.
Kendall, James, Carlos, Logan, and Katie looked around impatiently for the Jacksons and Katie almost didn't see them until they were right in front of her.
Patrick and Noah had grown a little bit taller so they now stood two inches taller than their sisters. Patrick's hair still had the blonde streaks in it, but he didn't have it put up in a Mohawk, and he was wearing glasses. Noah's hair and grown a little bit longer, almost to shoulder length. Sydney had gotten a little taller and had his hair cut so it was still messy, just not as long. Riley and Rhuben though had cut their long hair so now it rested at their shoulder blades and it had more red and purple streaks in it. And all of them had gotten slightly tanned while they were gone.
Rhuben was the first one to notice their friends staring at them. She gave a huge grin, dropped her bag to the ground and ran into Logan's arms.
"Logie!" she cried giving him a tight hug as the others crowded around. "It's so good to see you! How are you? How was your tour?"
Logan tried to reply to her many questions but he was unable to respond as he was tongue tied. He had to admit to himself that he hadn't ever seen his friend more attractive before. The shorter hair really helped bring out the frame to her face, her eyes seemed to be shining brighter (most likely due to her excitement of seeing them again) and she was wearing makeup, when she usually wouldn't touch the stuff. It was just a bit of eyeliner, eye shadow, and lip-gloss on.
To put it simply, Logan thought she looked beautiful.
"Logie, hello?" she waved a hand in front of his face and Logan shook his head before grinning and giving her a hug back.
"Sorry, Bella. Spaced out there for a second," he apologized. "It's good to see you!"
"You can't forget me," Riley gently nudged her sister out of the way before giving Logan a hug too. He didn't miss the smug smile on her face and decided not to question her about it. He knew from past experience that whenever he asked about that smile he usually was asked something extremely embarrassing and brought into some scheme that would eventually backfire. "How are you?"
"I'm doing great, Landy." He replied with a smile before going to hug and greet her brothers. In the back of his mind he felt as if something was off with them but didn't say anything.
"Ok, let me see," James grabbed onto Riley's arm and held her still as he looked over her hair. "Hmm, lots of volume, shape is nice and great body."
"Uh, we're still talking about my hair right?" Riley asked as she looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and amused look on her face.
"That too," James winked in reply before giving her a big hug. "You look great, really, you do."
"Thanks, so do you." Riley replied and lightly grabbed onto his arm. "Working out a bit more, huh?" she asked and then laughed when James nodded. "Maybe you could take Noah with you; he looks kind of wimpy and could use the bulking up."
"Thanks Riley," Noah muttered sarcastically, blushing a little bit as his voice cracked. "I love you too."
Kendall watched the exchange between James and Riley with an odd expression on his face. He didn't really understand why he was staring, but he couldn't help it. Just seeing her flirt with James like that, even if she didn't mean it at all, sort of annoyed him. Finally, he stopped staring and moved forward to give her a hug.
"Hey Hockey-Head," she greeted with a smirk as she gave him a hug. He held her for a second longer than necessary before taking a step back. "How was your tour?"
"It was awesome." Kendall replied as he stuck his hands into his pockets, not sure what to do with them and suddenly feeling very self-conscious. "We wish you guys were there, but you had your own tour to deal with."
"That wasn't all," Sydney murmured from beside him. Kendall looked over at him and Riley shot her brother a look when Kendall wasn't looking. Sydney gave one back before smiling widely, his dimples appearing in his cheeks. "Patrick and Noah turned 14 during the tour. So we celebrated their birthday at a really fancy restaurant."
"Did you get kicked out of that one too?" Carlos asked with a laugh.
"If you guys were there we definitely would have," Patrick replied and frowned when his voice cracked. "Man, that's getting on my nerves." Logan noticed that his, like his brothers and sisters voices, held their really thick accent. It was sort of hard to understand them at some points of their conversation. Patrick looked around and then waved at Mrs. Knight. "Hi Mama Knight, how are you?"
"I'm doing as well as any mother could after having some time by herself this summer," Mrs. Knight smiled affectionately in reply. "Trust me, I needed it."
"I wish I could say the same," Ronan McGuire, the Jacksons' music producer, chuckled as he walked over, tucking his passport into the inside pocket of his sports jacket. He reached out a hand and grabbed Mrs. Knight's hand, squeezing it gently. "But if you have a job like mine you're always busy." He smiled warmly. "It's nice to see you again Kacy."
"It's nice to see you too, Ronan." Mrs. Knight smiled in reply.
"So," Ronan pulled his hand away and rubbed them together. "I guess we should get going to the house."
"House?" Katie repeated as she raised her eyebrows.
"Oh, I guess we didn't tell you guys," Patrick pushed his glasses up his nose as he adjusted the bag that was around his shoulders. "Ronan bought a house, a mansion actually. So instead of staying at the Palm Woods, we're going to be living there."
"Sweet!" Katie's eyes lit up. "Can we come over and see it?"
"It would be better if we got some of our stuff moved in," Noah replied, his voice still as soft as ever. "But as soon as that's done all of you guys can come over and we'll have a party." He smiled warmly, his eyes locked on Katie. "Promise."
"Yeah, we kind of need to get going," Sydney added with a loud yawn, pulling his hood up over his head, so a shadow was cast across his face. He smiled. "That's the price you pay when you come back from Australia, you lost a day and you need to sleep it off."
"We'll call you later, though, Logie." Riley replied as if it was an afterthought.
"Sure," Logan replied with a nod.
"Later." Sydney gave the peace sign before they all walked off with Ronan, heads slightly bent towards the ground.
"Is it just me," Kendall started as soon as he was sure that they were out of ear shot. "Or did they seem kind of…odd to you?"
"It's not just you," Carlos replied as he shook his head. "I had the same feeling. James, Kendall, Katie, and Carlos all looked towards Logan as if he knew what was wrong. Logan just shrugged in reply.
"I have absolutely no idea what it is." He replied.
"But you've been Skyping and calling Riley and Rhuben all summer," James pointed out. "Are you sure?"
"It may not be that anything is wrong," Mrs. Knight cut in, not wanting to worry her son, daughter, or their friends. She had noticed it too, but didn't want them to think that anything was wrong. "It's like they said, they just flew in from a country that has a 17 hour time difference, they're bound to be exhausted and not really up for anything."
"Mom's right." Kendall agreed. "So, let's just go see em' tomorrow. I mean, knowing them they're bound to be at the studio, right?" he turned to his mom and lightly patted her on the arm. "To the Palm Woods, mom." Lightly teasing her as she was going to be their chauffer for a while or at least until Logan got his license, whichever came first.
Back across the terminal the Jacksons were waiting to get their bags, staring at the baggage claim, yawning every now at then. Ronan watched them not sure what to do, but he knew that he had to say something.
"Hey guys," he called gently to get their attention. "I know I'm not your dad, but I think it would be better to tell them what's going on now, rather than later when they find out from the news or something."
"It can wait." Riley muttered before turning to her siblings, a warning look in her eye. "They don't need to know yet."
They all nodded silently in reply.
A/N: And here's the first chapter to the sequel. You already see bits of Kiley, Lella, and PatrickxKatiexNoah. And for Mrs. Knight's name, I noticed that Kendall and Katie both had names that started with a 'k' so I gave her one too. Personally I think it sounds a bit too much like Katie and I may change it later, but it's her name for now.
Ok, so you guys know, unlike the last story that was mainly humorous, this story has a lot of angst in it. I hope you guys enjoyed it the next chapter will be up soon. Is there anything that you would like to see in this story? Let me know.
-Riley