AN: This is my first Big Time Rush fanfiction and I hope you all enjoy. If you read it, please review so I know what you think.

James POV

It was almost the end of summer break and Kendall was still moping around. It was about the same thing it has always been about; Jo. Sure we did the whole find a girlfriend and get dumped in an instant thing, but that only cheered Kendall up for a month. Between then and now it had been a constant on and off thing. Some days he would actually go out and do something with us, but other days he just sat on the couch, much like now, or stayed in his room. It was all because of Jo. No one could say that I hated her, but I disliked how she is still keeping Kendall from us, even though she wasn't here anymore. It wasn't fair to anyone. She did call every once in a while, maybe once a week, but those conversations were usually five to ten minutes long. It would perk Kendall up long enough to have a few good days at Rocque Records and for us to have our old friend back.

Of course we were all worried, but I was getting sick of it. Logan had the patience to let, whatever this was, run its course. Carlos was starting to get antsy; he was the middle ground between Logan and I. It was also him that was always the first to try to get Kendall to cheer up.

"Kendall, let's go hit the ice. We haven't been able to play on it since summer started." Carlos didn't care if we had to be at Rocque Records in two hours, he just wanted to get his friend to at least show some kind of emotion other than depression. He even jumped on the orange couch next to Kendall, which at least got Kendall to look at his Latino friend.

"We don't have time. We have to go to practice with Gustavo in two hours. By the time we get there and get on our gear, we'll only have an hour before we have to come back." Oh great, he was already turning down ideas without even a second one suggested.

It was Logan's turn to try to get their blond friend to do something. "Look, let's go get some school supplies. We are going back in a few weeks and this gives us a chance to get everything early." Leave it to Logan to come up with something boring. He went to join the blond and the Latino on the couch.

Again, the answer from Kendall was a no. He didn't even give some sort of explanation this time. "Guys, it's cool that you're trying and all, but I just want to be left alone." He went to get up, but I walked over and stood in his way.

"All we are trying to do is get you to do something other than mope around until Jo calls, which we don't know when that will be. You're upsetting your mom and Katie and making them worry. If you don't care if we are worried, at least think about your family. It's time for you to get up and go out with us!" I started out trying to keep my cool, but my voice kept rising as my irritation grew. "Just get over Jo and move on!" I had seriously had enough of this and it was time that Kendall understood that. If he wasn't going to be our leader, then I would just have to give him a jump start.

Though I'm pretty sure he did not appreciate my kind of jump start. He stood up from the couch, his emerald eyes almost meeting mine. They were narrowed, which did intimidate me a bit, but at least I got some kind of reaction out of him. "Get over Jo? Get over Jo? You can't just get over someone!" He rubbed his temple to at least try to calm his temper, but it didn't work. "You have never had a serious girlfriend," he looked to the other two, "none of you have for that matter." His attention was back to me, I knew that I was going to be the target of his anger this time, not that I didn't deserve it. "Until you have actually been in a serious relationship, fallen in love, and then gotten them torn away from your life; you will never know how I feel." His voice had lowered, but in a dangerous sort of way. "When you have, then you can talk to me about 'just moving on'."

To me, this sounded like a challenge at the time and James Diamond did not back down from a challenge. "Fine!" I was using my hand in exaggerated motions, just to emphasis my words as I felt this boiling set of emotions waiting to erupt. "Let's say I do get a serious girlfriend, get some strong feelings for her, and then break it off, you have to get out of this mopey mess and get over Jo." I felt good about this.

Kendall frowned with his lips pierced together, "Alright. But," he raised on hand with his index finger up, "if you end up just as messed up and just as depressed, you will leave me alone to get over this myself." It seemed like a reasonable wager. Which was why we shook on it, no matter what kind of protests Carlos and Logan had.

As Kendall pushed past me to go lock himself away in his room, Logan stood up from the couch. "Do you know how long it will take for you to accomplish this? By the time you do, Kendall will probably be over Jo anyways." Truthfully, I hadn't really thought of that and Logan could tell almost instantly. "And you didn't even think of that."

"So? The point is just to get Kendall to see how ridiculous he is being. If he gets over Jo before I get to complete the bet, then it doesn't even matter. I just break up with whoever I'm with if I don't like them." I shrugged my shoulders. It really was no big deal. People broke up all the time and I have only gotten really attached to a few girls that I have dated. Even when I did, it was really easy to break up with them.

Carlos was now understanding exactly what was going on. "And if James is off doing that, it might even distract Kendall as well. Oh, then we," Carlos pointed to him and Logan, "can try different things to get Kendall to forget about Jo. Like, well I don't know." He looked a little disappointed that he wasn't sure what they could do. I figured he wanted to help somehow.

Logan was there to save the day, "Actually, that's a great idea. Kendall might be preoccupied by James to not notice if we try a few little things. Nothing too big or he might get upset." There we were, having to tiptoe around Kendall and his feelings. "Listen, we're going to have to do this very carefully..."

Kendall's POV

Music filled my ears, I couldn't hear anything else. I didn't understand why my friends had to push this. I would get over Jo in my own time. Of course, her phone calls weren't exactly helping, but I wasn't going to cut off all communication with her just because we broke up. We did promise to at least stay friends. Also part of me wanted to hold onto whatever I could get from Jo.

Part of my problem was that I couldn't see myself with anyone else. We needed some more new people to come to the Palm Woods. New people had been moving in, but none of them really stood out to me. It was kind of cool that I got to be here this time to see all of the new people as they arrived. Last year we were all on tour at around this time. Why couldn't we be on tour again this summer? I can't really say that. We were on tour, but it was earlier this time and a little bit shorter so that we didn't have the same catastrophe as last year with homework. I would have looked forward to the distraction.

Maybe Gustavo would be able to pull some strings and get a few concerts around here for us to do. It would help take my mind off of Jo and maybe then my friends would get off my back. I didn't want to complain about them, but they just haven't been in this situation. Logan is the closest, but him and Camille were so on and off that it really didn't count anyways.

I must have fallen asleep at some point because I was awakened with James pulling my earphones off my head. I gave him an annoyed look before I saw what time it was on the clock on my bedside table. We only had ten minutes to get to Rocque Records! We would have been able to make it, but I was still in sweats from before and needed to change.

It was as if James read my mind. He called out of the room, "Carlos, it's your turn to tell Gustavo we are going to be late! He was asleep!" The groan we could heard from the Latino made me crack a smile. No one ever wanted to tell Gustavo we were going to be late, which is why we had a system. We traded off who was going to tell him and get yelled at.

My smile was gone when I had clothes thrown at me. It looked like James was picking out my clothes for me today. "I can dress myself. I'm still capable of that." It didn't take away from my smirk as I looked at what the taller boy was going to make me wear. It was just a dark t-shirt and tight jeans, I was almost certain he would get something out that was more...well James. I don't think there was any other way to describe it.

"See? Now is it that hard to smile? Jeeze, you'd think we broke your hockey stick or something," James teased, he was always good at that. It was better than when he was serious.

"I know you guys mean well and forget about the bet. I just need some time." I got off the bed and was heading for the bathroom to shower and change. I'm sure all the other guys already had gotten ready by now.

James shook his head, "We've given you some time, just let us in." He seriously look concerned, but that look quickly faded as a grin spread across his face. "And you should know by now that I don't back down from a bet. No matter how ridiculous it is."

Despite the terms of the bet, I couldn't help another smile. It was just so like James. I shook my head at him and went into the bathroom.

Carlos POV

Nothing is worse than having to tell Gustavo you are going to be late. I had to hold the phone a foot away from my ear, and I could still hear him as if he was in the room. He must have some big lungs or something, because I don't know if I could yell that loudly or for that long. It almost made me jerk away and drop the phone. I really did not like yelling at all.

I wasn't even listening to the words he was trying to say, just waiting for him to stop yelling long enough for me to tell him I had to go. I half wanted to hang up, but Logan gave me a warning look. I just set the phone on the kitchen counter and went to get a drink out of the fridge.

"I don't get why he is so upset. We haven't been late in a long time," I figured that would make him at least somewhat happy. With another thought, I was almost certain that nothing could make him happy. He was just a very unhappy person.

"Which means he hasn't been able to yell at us like this in a long time. It's all pent up and he has to release it all." Logan was saying it as if it was some kind of math problem. I was almost certain it didn't work that way. Gustavo was probably having a bad day or something and found a reason to release his anger. Though Logan might be right. It was hard to tell sometimes.

I looked back to the phone when I couldn't hear him yelling anymore. I picked it up and put it to my ear. I missed the first part of what he said, but I could figure it out. "-as soon as you can. I expect everyone ready as soon as you get here!" Then the line went dead. Gustavo hung up on me, which was normal. He was that kind of guy. When I say he was that kind of guy, he was the rude kind when he got upset.

I was surprised to see Kendall and James come out of their room then. It just showed how long Gustavo was yelling at me. As I said, something had him mad. We would find out as soon as we got to the studio.

It was Logan's turn to drive to BTR Mobile to Rocque Records, we took turns on that too. We all decided this summer that it was a good idea to go get our licenses so that Logan wasn't the only one driving us around. Plus there were days where Logan just didn't feel like it and I couldn't blame him. With everything that happened on the road, I found myself strangely distracted as I drove. It was probably why the other guys tried to keep me from driving as much as possible. I had only run over a curb three times though! And it wasn't like I ran over something important...yet.

The car ride was pretty quiet, which was a bit weird. I think it was because we didn't want to upset Kendall again right before we got to Rocque Records. Then he wouldn't be his best for practice and Gustavo may think about skinning us alive. I'm sure he's thought of doing that before. Well skinning us alive or just killing us. Yeah, he's thought about killing us a lot. We aren't bad people, we just annoy him.

As soon as we entered the building, we were greeted by Kelly. She was talking fast, probably because we were so late. "Griffin came in earlier and he wants a new song by the end of the week. That gives us four days to get a song, record it, and get a performance ready for Griffin. We were able to talk him out of a music video by then, but he's probably going to want one next week then." She stopped only to get into the elevator and wait for all of us to get in. "Gustavo is not having the best day right now and can't write a song. He's had a block all summer since your 'If I Ruled the World' single."

She watched the numbers on the elevator light up as we kept going up, one floor at a time. The numbers were going way too slowly. I tapped my foot, waiting to be out of the elevator. I thought she was done, but soon she was talking again. "The coffee machine is also broken, so he hasn't had a single latte today. He's pretty cranky."

Her words rang true when the elevator doors opened. Gustavo's voice could be heard yelling at someone. I didn't know who it could be and I looked to the other guys, they just gave a shrug. We found out he was yelling at one of the marketing managers. I kinda could understand, they usually came up with some pretty bad ideas. I don't mean just regular bad ideas, like REALLY bad ideas. They were the ones that thought we should be in dangerously tight pants and be called DangerBoy. It was a good thing Gustavo knew a good idea from a bad idea. He saved us from the leather pants that day. Hopefully we will never have to combat them again.

"No. No! NO! You don't know what you are doing! I bet a trained monkey could do a better job than you! In fact I may even hire a trained monkey when I fire you!" In Gustavo's words, that meant the marketing manager was not fired, yet, just given a very loud warning. It was their lucky day, Gustavo was not above firing people he needed.

I don't understand how Gustavo could always be so angry all the time. I know I could never be that angry for long at all. Logan had always said that my happy nature would be my downfall. I didn't understand what he meant, of course it's kind of hard to understand anything Logan says. He has this thing where he explains things in such a complicated way when he could just sum it up in a sentence or two and it make sense to us all. Or he just uses really big words that no one in their right mind should know.

It was our turn in the producer's office once the marketing manager left. All of us could tell he was distressed at whatever he had talked to Gustavo about. It made me fear just how mad Gustavo might be. You can never tell sometimes, he was almost like a yo-yo with emotions. I never was really good with a yo-yo, which is probably why Gustavo scared me when he was so up and down.

"Dogs! Kelly told you about Griffin coming, right?" Gustavo seemed like he was in a good mood, but that never really said anything. With a nod from Kelly and us, he continued, "Well, so I need a new hit and you dogs need to work with Mr. X." And he still seemed happy. Maybe he did have an idea about what to write for a song. "But I can't come up with anything!" There we go, there was the yelling we were use to. "Kelly! I need you to get Katie! She usually can get me out of these funks!" He pointed to Kelly and she just nodded, getting her phone out and leaving the room as she dialed a number, probably to call Mrs. Knight. "Dogs! I have a special assignment for you!"

He sat down behind his desk and crossed his arms over it. He seemed really serious now. "Shut the door." Logan, who was closest to the door, closed the door. We all got into the chairs in the room, wondering what caused the sudden change in Gustavo. "I have intellect that Hawk has hired a new song writer. Apparently they are good, but also very picky. Hawk has yet to provide an artist good enough to sing these songs. I want to keep it that way, but eventually he will give them something to work with. I heard that this person is moving into the Palm Woods today." His voice was low to begin with, but it became even lower. "I need you to distract this person. I need to write a song before Hawk is able to record one."

Logan POV

So Gustavo wanted to use us to get ahead of Hawk again. I couldn't blame him, Hawk was pretty callous. It did make sense, we had access to this new song writer, where Gustavo would never be able to get to them. He could, it would just look creepy. "Couldn't you just sway the person with a contract?" It seemed like a reasonable question, but nothing was reasonable with Gustavo.

"A contract? Do you know what that means?" There goes the yelling. Ah, I missed it so. "I write the songs, no one else!" If he wasn't so stubborn about that, this could be resolved so easily. I am talking about Gustavo, as I said before, there was nothing reasonable about the man.

I could see Carlos looking upset, he never did like yelling. He has never really explained it, we never pushed the subject, but he was okay with happy, excited yelling, he did it all the time, just not mad yelling.

Kendall was the one to calm Gustavo down, he usually was. Well, you know, when he wasn't talking back. Even in his depressed state, he knew what he had to do for the group. "Alright, we'll do it. Do you have any names?"

"Uh, yeah about that, no." Gustavo pointed to us with a little smirk, he probably thought we were smart enough to figure this out on our own. "Hawk is keeping everything under the radar. I don't have age, name, gender, nothing. All I know is they write songs. I'm sure there aren't many song writers moving in today. You can figure it out. You've never let me down before." It was almost like a guilt trip when he said that. I knew we would do it just so we didn't let him down.

He was right though, the chances of everyone moving in today was very slim. Most of the people that were going to move in for this year already have. Just like most of the people that were going to move out already have. We didn't loose many this year, which was normal for how many people moved in last year. From what Camille had said, people usually give their dreams two years. If they last that long, they will be at the Palm Woods for a really long time. If not, well, they were gone already.

Gustavo looked at us expectantly. When we didn't move, he threw his hands up, "What are you waiting for? Go! Go! GO!" By the last 'go', we were all scrambling to get to the door. I got to the door first, but when I yanked it open, the other guys were pushing to get out. We all ended up falling down on the floor in front of our producer's office. Everyone was on top of me and I let out a loud sigh, I needed to get new friends. Okay, so I didn't mean it, but they were hard to deal with sometimes. Especially when it came to getting in trouble.

"So what's the plan?" James looked to Kendall, expecting him to come up with something. Of course we all did most of the time.

All we got was a shrug from him as Kendall headed for the elevators. He was back to his mopey self, which was just great for the rest of us. That was sarcasm and there was lots of it in that statement. It looked like I would have to come up with something, which was probably why the two others looked at me afterwards.

"Logan can come up with something. I'll help, but try to leave me out of this." Kendall looked at me as if he really just wanted to not have anything to do with me or my plan. It was very discouraging, to say the least. I just wished that he would talk to us instead of keeping everything in, but that was Kendall for you. He kept everything in until he couldn't anymore.

As we all crowded the elevator, Kendall ignored it and gave us a quick glance. "I'm going to take the stairs and walk back to the Palm Woods." I couldn't say that I didn't see it coming. That was his usual routine when it wasn't too dark and he wanted to be alone. From the looks of the other guys, they weren't surprised as well.

Carlos was the only one to give a concerned look, both James and I were too use to this behavior to show our concern. "We really need to do something for him, but we also have to go and find out who Hawk's song writer is." He gave him his puppy dog look. How could I let him down with those big brown eyes of his? It rivaled Katie's look.

I pushed the button for the garage. With Kendall walking, we could talk about it the whole ride back and even some more in the room until he got back. "Carlos, you are a people person and so is James. It would be easier for you guys to go up to everyone who is checking in today and finding out about them. We may even be able to get Katie to get Bitters to tell her who is moving in today before Gustavo monopolizes her time." The elevator doors opened just as I was thinking of what to do with Kendall.

"And if any of them are ladies, I can always swoop in and start working on my bet." James really did have a one track mind when it came to bets and competitions. He was in it to win it. I wasn't sure if I felt bad for him or the girl he would choose. No, I couldn't really say that. I definitely felt worse for him. He would be the one to learn just how hard it is to let someone go. That was if he was able to complete the bet.

"You really shouldn't take the bet seriously, you know? You could really hurt someone." There Carlos was, being the sensitive one. I actually liked it. That was part of the reason why our dynamics worked. I was the smart one, James was the ladies man, Carlos was the sensitive one, and Kendall was our leader. Things just weren't the same without the leader.

Which was why this whole thing was so important. We were at the car before I could really come up with anything. I gave James the keys, that way he could drive while I thought, plus I needed Carlos to keep my plans from being too harsh. I got into the passenger seat and Carlos jumped in the back. I turned around in my seat so I was facing both the other guys.

"We really didn't come up with anything earlier in regards to Jo. So I guess I will stay in the apartment while you two are out and about. I figure the thing that is really killing him is Jo calling. Somehow we have to stop that and hopefully he will be able to get over this faster. I just am not sure how." This was why we needed Kendall, I was not good at coming up with plans when I was stressed. It was also hard to come up with something that would keep our friend happy in the long run.

Carlos looked like he was thinking it over as we were driving down the street. "Just don't be too harsh about it. Jo is our friend as well, right?" He looked like he was really thinking about the question. You could tell with his face kind of scrunched up.

James was the one to answer this one, though I wasn't sure if I wanted him to. "We were friends with her because she was dating Kendall. She hurt Kendall and is continuing to hurt him. I don't think she's a friend anymore." It was a bit harsh, but it was kind of the truth.

With a nod from Carlos, I could tell he understood now just where we all stood with Jo. "I still say you shouldn't be too harsh about it, you know if you have to talk to Jo or something. She still has feelings." That was why it was great to have Carlos around. He thought of others, which sometimes we all forgot about from time to time.

Then his words hit me again, that was it! "Carlos, you are a genius! I'll just talk to Jo and see if she will back off for a bit." It really did make sense. If we wanted something to happen, we needed to go to the source of the problem.

Carlos beamed, it was unusual for him to be the one to come up with a plan. Well I still came up with it, but he gave me a big head start. Again with those big eyes of his. They weren't because he was pouting this time, so at least they didn't make me weak in the knees.

Okay, the feeling was coming on anyways. It was the way he smiled, but I didn't get to see it for long as his gaze went to the window. We all knew he got carsick, so it was to keep the feeling from coming up. Carlos was always miserable when his motion sickness got the best of him. I didn't want him to be miserable, so it was best to let him stay distracted.

"Let me get this straight, the plan is for me and Carlos to go and chat it up with all of the newbies to see which one is Hawk's song writer while you basically tell Jo to lay off?" James interrupted my thoughts with his question. He was just one to make sure he was understanding everything. It made sense since sometimes he did misunderstand things.

"That's pretty much it." It sounded way too simple for it to work. James and Carlos might end up getting caught and Hawk might do something. There was also the possibility that Jo would get upset and tell Kendall what I said to her. Then I suspect Kendall would stop talking to me.

"I can tell you are trying to talk yourself out of the plan." Carlos was the one to point this out, staring hard at me. I had to swallow the lump in my throat. "It will work. What's the worst that can happen?" He smiled and, weirdly, it reassured me enough for my anxiety to go down.

We didn't really speak for the rest of the ride to the Palm Woods, there wasn't much else to say. James was probably thinking of how he could charm the ladies; I'm almost positive the little bet outweighed anything Gustavo said. Carlos, well who knew what Carlos was ever thinking. I'm sure it was changing with every passing second anyways. I didn't really need to know anyways, I had to figure out how to talk to Jo without her getting upset. An upset Jo would be the end of Kendall and my friendship. I might have been over exaggerating, but that was what it felt like. I really didn't want to risk one of my best friends over a girl.

AN: Thank you for reading. If you have any comments, questions, concerns; ask/tell away.