A/N- Well, after writing, and rewriting, then writing, then rewriting... I finally perfected my story. Anyway, this is my first story, and I'm all for constructive criticism, but please be nice.

Disclaimer- I DO NOT OWN BIG TIME RUSH!

Chapter One

They Can't Know

Crying was for babies.

At least, that was what ten year old Kendall Knight tried to convince himself while he attempted to clean his wound. Kendall was always telling everybody that crying was for babies- it's what he would tell Carlos after he'd wipe out during a stunt, or what he'd tell Logan whenever he got hurt. And the fact that he practically had tears rolling down his face made him feel like a hypocrite.

Kendall was the official, unofficial leader and leaders didn't cry. Him crying would be like Carlos not eating corndogs, Logan not reading and James not using his lucky comb- it was unnatural. So he forced himself to put on a brave face for his friends.

He hissed under his breath as he applied the disinfectant to the wound, then dabbed it with his cotton swab. He and his ten year old brain couldn't understand how so much pain could harbor from such a small cut.

Kendall was really considering finding Logan and letting him help him clean his wound; after all his shorter friend was training to become a doctor. But when he thought it over, he realized that then he'd have to tell Logan what happened and he refused to allow that to happen.

He looked around his bedroom for the bandages, finally remembering he stashed them away in his dresser drawer. Gingerly, without jolting his injured arm, he pried the drawer open and rummaged through it. At last, he found the small Band-Aid at the bottom and pulled it out with trembling fingers.

The faintest knock on the door made him jump; he nearly dropped the bandage. He froze. He hoped that it wasn't his mother on the other side of the door; he'd made a valiant effort to keep this a secret. If she were to walk in and see him like this, his entire cover would be blown.

He whipped around and listened carefully for any noise to follow. "Kendall," a tiny voice called from the other side. "are you in there?" He recognized the voice of his youngest friend.

Kendall let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah! I'm in here Carlos."

The little Latino boy let himself in; he pushed the door open a crack and somehow managed to squeeze himself through. After he shut the door behind him, he made his way over to his friend. "Hey, Kendall." Carlos mumbled, rubbing his arm timidly.

"Hey, buddy." Kendall greeted back, turning back to his bandaid. "What's up?"

"That's kind of what I wanted to ask you. Are you ok?" Carlos asked.

Kendall's friends were incredibly blunt, straight forward people, and Kendall knew that; he simply hadn't been expecting it from his youngest, most naive, innocent friend. "Y-Yeah, buddy. I'm fine." Kendall said, fiddling with the bandaid and trying to get it open.

"Here, give me that." Kendall sighed as he handed it over to Carlos. As Carlos picked at the crease of the wrapper, he eyed his friend. "So why did you leave so fast today, you know, after school?"

"I was-?"

"And where were you at lunch?" Carlos pressed before he could get a chance to speak.

Kendall bit his lip; he was at a loss of what to do. He couldn't tell Carlos about what was happening, but he couldn't lie to him either. Kendall sighed and looked away, unable to look at his friend's innocent eyes.

Carlos noticed and looked at the back of Kendall's head with hurt in his eyes. "Kendall, are you mad at us?" That got Kendall's attention; his head snapped back. He was unable to mask the shocked expression. "Did we do something wrong?"

"N-No, Carlos, buddy it's nothing like that! It's just-" he paused, thinking over his words carefully before continuing. "I've got a lot going on in my life right now, alright?"

"Ok." Carlos mumbled through a grunt as he tore open the wrapping of the bandage; Carlos's hands were smaller than Kendall, so he was able to get it open with ease. Carlos peeled it off and placed it on for Kendall. "There you go."

"Thanks Carlitos." Kendall said sincerely, patting his friend's shoulder.

"No problem. You know, the dinosaurs really suit you quite well." Carlos teased.

Kendall's cheeks instantly became a deep shade of crimson and he looked down at the bandage on his elbow. He playfully punched Carlos' shoulder at his attempt at levity. "Shut up!"

Carlos smiled brightly before his face went serious again. "What happened to your arm anyway?"

"I- uh- fell off my skate board." Kendall lied, although he was inwardly cringing. He hated having to lie to his friend.

Carlos hissed in sympathy. "Bummer, dude." He said and Kendall nodded along. There was a long silence and they both looked around the room, thinking about what to say. Finally, Carlos spoke up again. "Kendall, are you sure you're ok?"

"Carlos, I already told you I'm fine!" Kendall snapped but clasped his hands over his mouth. He hadn't meant to snap at him like that, and when he saw Carlos' hurt, puppy dog face, he instantly regretted it. "I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to-?"

"It's ok, Kendall." Carlos said, but he still seemed sad.

Kendall looked at his friend, smiling a big, toothy, mischievous grin. "Want to go play video games?"

Suddenly Carlos was back to his old happy self. "Yeah!" He cried with a grin of his own as he jumped up and down in excitement.

"Well, come on!" Kendall urged as he led him out of his room.

Kendall sighed, feeling relieved that his friend didn't find out much about the secret. He feared that if his friend would have badgered him anymore, he would have cracked and told him everything; and he couldn't let that happen. After all, it was a secret. And he was determined to keep it a secret...

Well, what do you think?

Constructive criticism is welcome and please, please, PLEASE PM me or leave a review if you have any questions! I want to know what you (the readers) are thinking!

That's all I've got, but until next time:

Peace, Love and Happiness!

-BrittSmiles4BTR