Chapter 1: Are You Ready?

Disclaimer: I do not own Big Time Rush, or any settings, characters, etc. related to the television show or their music.

Kendall Knight pushed his head into the back of the airplane seat, preparing himself for the landing. He always got the worst airplane sickness, especially at the end of the flight. And Carlos' ongoing fidgeting in the seat next to him did not help the slightest bit.

"Carlos," Kendall muttered, turning to face him, giving him a slightly irritated look. "Can you stop it already?"

Carlos returned Kendall a look of innocence, as if he had no idea that he was doing anything wrong. "What?"

"You can't sit still!"

"Oh, sorry," Carlos replied. Although he stopped moving, he still continued to fiddle with the straps of his helmet that was sitting in his lap. "I'm just nervous, you know?"

Actually, Kendall didn't know. Ever since Gustavo gave them two weeks off to go back to Minnesota, Kendall seemed to be the only one who wasn't completely freaking out. Gustavo and Kelly had announced that they needed a break from the fame one week earlier (Kendall assumed it was because the day before the announcement, over a hundred fans swarmed the front doors to the Palm Woods, chanting "BTR", and screaming their names for over an hour. Luckily, Mr. Bitters finally made himself useful and made them leave, but the whole ordeal took its toll on each of the boys), and here they were, sitting on an airplane, flying back home, although their small Minnesota town hardly had any attachment to the meaning of "home" nowadays.

James was clearly the most stressed out ever since he found out that they would be taking this so-called "vacation". He seemed the opposite of his usual self; he was constantly nervous, and quickly dismissed himself from the conversation whenever the topic came up.

Kendall cast a sidelong glance at James across the aisle. James had headphones in his ears and was browsing through a magazine. He had not yet removed his sunglasses which rested on the top of his head, as if he wasn't going to a snow-covered, below-freezing town, but a large, warm-temperature city with plenty of beaches. James didn't even bother bringing a coat as a carry-on.

Kendall truthfully had no idea what was up with James. He knew that Logan had always been better friends with him than himself, so he probably knew.

However, Logan was the polar opposite of James in this situation. He was quite excited to be returning to his former life, and was constantly reminiscing all of his Minnesota friends, expressing how he wondered how the chess and math clubs were holding up without him (Logan had been the president of both clubs). Kendall wondered how James felt about Logan's continuous references to the trip, and then realized Logan might not know James' reasoning behind his recent state of mind.

As for Carlos… Actually, Kendall didn't know what was up with Carlos. Well, not the whole truth, anyways. Carlos was clearly nervous about the trip (although not as much so as James), and all Kendall had gotten out of him was that he was anxious to see how his peers would think of him. Now, Carlos wasn't the kind of person (and didn't come across as someone) who cared about what others thought about them. Why Carlos did in this instance, Kendall didn't know.

Kendall himself was pretty neutral on the whole thing. While his wasn't extremely excited like Logan, he also wasn't extremely nervous like James, or even Carlos. He was happy to see his old friends and the hockey team, but wanted the trip to be over soon so Big Time Rush could go back to LA and focus on their next album. And he didn't want to be away from Jo too long.

"Good evening, everyone," blared a voice through the speakers. Kendall noticed several people who had dozed off jerk up in surprise. "This is your captain speaking. We'd like to welcome you to St. Paul, Minnesota. The time is currently 7:04 Central Time, and it's currently 36 degrees outside. Please keep your seatbelts fastened until we pull the plane into the gate. Thank you for flying with us this evening and we hope to see you again soon. Enjoy your stay."

Kendall stretched his arms above his head once everyone had stood and began to gather their luggage. He unzipped his backpack and pulled out a beanie hat, which he slid onto his head. Wearing the hat felt odd for a moment; after all, he hadn't needed one in sunny Los Angeles.

"You guys ready?" Kendall called to the other three. They each nodded in turn, James a bit reluctant to do so.

Once exiting the crowded plane, the four boys, Mrs. Knight, and Katie were all grateful for their own personal space yet again. Unfortunately, Kendall's queasiness had only begun to fade, so he still felt a bit sick to his stomach.

"Honey," Kendall's mother placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess," Kendall shrugged.

"Would you like me to go get you a water bottle?" she asked.

"Thanks, Mom." Kendall forced a small smile, despite how sick he felt.

"Alright," she announced to the boys and Katie. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Don't go anywhere." she added, noticing Katie's longing look at the nearby slot machines. She then walked off.

James had already pulled out his "lucky" comb (Kendall never quite understood why he considered it so lucky) and was fixing his hair in a fogged-up window. Carlos strapped on his legendary helmet and hit his now protected head twice, as he always did every time he put it on. Logan was simply sitting on his suitcase, observing his surroundings.

"Isn't it weird?" Logan said. "Being back, I mean."

"Yeah," James said quickly. "Really weird."

"Do you think anyone will notice us?" Logan continued.

"I sure hope not," Kendall replied, casting a glance at Katie, who seemed to be resisting the temptation to go over to the slot machines with all she had. "This trip was supposed to get us away from the fame, remember?"

"But we are famous now," said James, still not looking away from the window. "Won't people know who we are?"

Kendall and Logan shrugged in unison.

"What do you think Gustavo and Kelly are up to?" Carlos asked absentmindedly, who's mind had obviously been wandering elsewhere.

"I know," Kendall laughed.

"I'm so glad to get rid of those dogs!" Kendall joked, putting on his best Gustavo impression, which was pretty pathetic, but funny nonetheless. "Now I have some time to finally relax."

"But Gustavo," Logan chimed in, raising his voice to sound like a girl's. "You need to write another song for the next album!"

"Oh, whatever, Kelly!" Kendall continued, stifling a laugh. "Now go get me a coffee! NOW!"

"Gustavo!" Carlos added, attempting to sound manly, like Griffin did. "'Oh, whatever' you say? Well, in that case, I seem to not be working you hard enough! I'd like a new song by 8 o'clock tomorrow. And make it about… gophers."

"What?" Kendall raised his voice. "AGGGGHHH!"

"Kendall!" Katie tugged on his shirt sleeve. "You're drawing a crowd!"

The three only just realized how loud their voices were. Several people near them were giving them odd looks, and a few young children were even pointing at them.

"Oh," Kendall said embarrassedly. He bended down to reach Katie's height.

"Here comes Mom," he said. "If she asks, you didn't see anything."

"I won't let anything slip for five bucks," she threatened, a smirk crossing her childish face.

Kendall rolled his eyes as he quickly slipped out a five dollar bill from the wallet in his back pocket.

"Alright, boys," Mrs. Knight said, handing Kendall the water bottle as the spoke. "Are you ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," muttered James, just now turning away from the window.

Author's Note: Hello, everyone! I just wanted to inform you on the updating procedures for this story. I plan to post a chapter every Saturday until the story is finished. But, I have a very busy life the next month or two (with the end of school and such), and will probably not post a chapter consecutively every single Saturday until the story is finished (Note that I have no idea how long this will be, I'm honestly just writing without any plan or draft whatsoever). In that case, I will post the chapter the following Saturday. If I know that I will not be able to post the chapter at the right time (like if I was going on vacation or such), I will try to inform you by mentioning it in an Author's Note and the end of the previous chapter.

Also, I would extremely appreciate it if you would review my story! After all, this is my first Big Time Rush fanfiction, and any suggestions that would make it better are strongly encouraged. Throw anything you got at me! If you want to see me write something specific, just let me know and I'll see what I can do. Thanks!

The second chapter is likely to be posted May 7, 2011.