Chapter 1: Friday Night Blues

James POV

I really hate hospitals. I LOATHE them, in fact. Yet, here we were, Big Time Rush at the hospital waiting for someone we don't even know. To a normal person, this may sound odd. Why go to one of the most awful places on the planet for some random stranger? It's simply really; this random person saved my best friend's life.

It started out as a normal Friday. We endured the wrath of Gustavo and his five-hour harmony session and grueling dance practice. You know, same old, same old. We even went out for ice cream afterwards, a Friday night ritual we established the week we started this whole boy band process. It was after we left the ice cream shop that things changed. We were all feeling lazy and decided that we didn't feel like walking all the way to the intersection to cross the street. No, we figured as long as we looked both ways we would be perfectly fine walking across. Well, not all of us thought this was a good idea. As usual, Logan was dubious of our plan. After all, he reasoned, the next intersection was only half a mile away. Better to be safe than sorry, he admonished. And, as usual, the rest of us manage to persuade him that everything will be fine. Boy, how wrong we were.

I don't really know what happened. I was trying to ignore Logan, who was trudging along behind the rest of us, as he continually expressed his disapproval of what we were doing. The next thing I know, I hear a loud honk and turn around to find Logan on the ground. I saw the car speed away, without so much as a hesitation to stop and check on our friend. Bastard. I remember running to Logan, fearing the worst. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I knelt down next to him.

"Logan!" I heard Kendall, who appeared next to me yell.

"Oww…" I heard Logan mumble. I saw him try to get up.

"Dude, don't move!" Carlos screamed, seeming to materialize on my other side.

To my surprise, Logan got up quite easily. "Guys, relax I'm fine. I just have a scrape." He replied, pointing to the nasty gash that was on his forearm. "Where's the girl?"

Kendall and I looked at each other, and by the look in his eyes I could tell he didn't know what Logan was talking about either. "Logie," Kendall began gently, "What girl? Are you sure you didn't hit your head?"

"I'm talking about the girl who pushed me out of the way. Is she okay?"

I was about to suggest that we get his head examined, when we heard a groan.

"Over there!" Carlos whispered, pointing to a figure several feet away trying to get up.

"Oh my God!" Kendall exclaimed, "James, go help her, she shouldn't be moving. Carlos, help Logan to the sidewalk. I'm gonna call 911."

I rushed over to the girl, who managed to stand up. She was hunched over, obviously in pain. "Hey." I said softly, hoping to not spook her, "I'm James. My friend Kendall is calling an ambulance right now. Let me help you."

The girl vigorously shook her head and attempted to hobble away from me. After a grand total of two steps, the girl collapsed. I managed to catch her before she hit the ground and carried her to the sidewalk. As I set her down, I could tell she was about to lose consciousness. Logan scrambled over next to her, and gently started to slap her face.

"We can't let her go to sleep, she might have a concussion." Logan, the aspiring doctor, stated rather shakily, "Come on, stay awake. That's right, good job."

The ambulance arrived shortly after that. The girl managed to stay awake, but just barely. The paramedics insisted on taking Logan to the hospital, just to make sure there interior damage. Kendall called his mom, and she came to pick us up so we could all go to the hospital.

Logan was fine, thank God. They only kept him long enough to assess him. They cleaned the wound on his arm and bandaged it, and said he could leave.

"I…think we should stay for a while," Logan said nervously, once he was discharged. "You know, at least until that girl's parents come for her."

Kendall nodded. "I agree. Can we, mom?"

Mrs. Knight smiled softly at her boys. "Of course. Let me just go pick up Katie."

It had been two hours since we decided to stay. We sat in the waiting room, in the chairs closest to the receptionist so that when the girl's parents came, we could explain to them what happened. None of talked during that whole time; I guess we were too occupied thinking about what happened to say anything.

"You'd think her parents would be here by now," Carlos suddenly said, "I mean, it has been two hours."

"Maybe she's not from around here," Logan offered.

"We did leave the waiting room to get something to eat. Maybe they came in while we were out?" Kendall suggested.

I was getting a little testy. Even though I didn't know the girl, I was genuinely concerned for her well-being. I was the one who held her, let her blood seep into my clothes (thankfully Mama Knight brought me a shirt to change into when she and Katie came back). It was damn scary, like I was seeing this girl dying before my eyes. And there was nothing I could do about it.

"Well, while you guys speculate, I'm going to go ask the receptionist." I stood up and casually walked over the receptionist's desk. "Excuse me, miss?"

The receptionist, a petite Asian woman with sweet brown eyes, looked up. "Yes, may I help you?" she inquired politely.

"Ummm…yes," I started out, realizing I didn't know anything about the girl who saved Logan, "You see…my friend was involved in a hit-and-run. Thankfully, he sustained minor injuries, on account of this girl pushing him out of the way. I know you can't tell me anything about her condition, but I was wondering if you could tell me if her parents arrived? We really wanted to talk to them."

The receptionist sighed sadly, "I'm sorry, but do you realize how many patients we have as a result of a hit-and-run? I don't think I can help you."

"Oh." I replied gloomily, "Well, thank you."

I was about to turn around and tell the others, when I heard a male voice say, "Excuse me, sir…but did you say you were waiting for a girl who was involved in a hit-and-run?" I looked for the source of the voice. My eyes rested upon a balding, pale doctor who looked at me expectantly.

I blinked, "Yes, I did. Why?"

He ignored my question, "What did the girl look like?"

I was slightly taken aback. "Well," I started, "I think she had blonde hair and she was wearing dark clothes. Black, I think? I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention."

"Are you here alone?"

"No, my friends and my guardian are here, too."

"Take me to them,"

I was perplexed by the conversation, but did as he requested. Five pairs of eyes looked up at me curiously.

"Hey guys, this is…" I paused, looking at the doctor.

"Yes, good evening. My name is Dr. Stewart. I am Leigh's doctor."

"I'm sorry, but who's Leigh?" Mrs. Knight asked.

Dr. Stewart lightly hit himself in the forehead, "Pardon me, you all might know her better as the girl who pushed, uhh" he looked down at the file he was holding, "Logan Mitchell, out of the way of an oncoming vehicle."

We all nodded vigorously. "Yeah, how is she?" Logan asked.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you of her condition."

"Oookay, so why are you talking to us?" I huffed. I don't like being rude, but this dude was really trying my patience.

Dr. Stewart sighed, "It's odd. We called the numbers that were allegedly her parents'. Turns out, those numbers actually belong to a couple of restaurants around town."

"So, you're saying that no one is coming for her?" Carlos quietly asked.

Dr. Stewart nodded sadly. I looked over to see Mrs. Knight clutching Katie's shoulders tightly, tears glistening in her eyes.

The doctor cleared his throat, "Legally, I'm not able to tell you anything about her. But, since you guys are the closest thing she has to family right now, I will call you when she wakes up. Normally, we're not supposed to do this, but quite frankly this scenario hasn't occurred before. So, I'll make an exception this time."

"Thank you, Dr. Stewart, that is very kind of you." Mrs. Knight responded. She looked at the boys, "It's 10 pm, why don't we go home and get a good night's sleep? We'll come back when she's awake."

I looked at Kendall and the others, and silently we agreed. Bidding the doctor a good night, we somberly exited the hospital and went home. None of us said much during the car ride home, and when we got back to 2J, we said our goodnights and went straight to bed. I'm not sure how, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

Like it? Hate it? Please let me know how I can improve! I appreciate any and all critiques, but no flames, please.