Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Chapter 1:
Welcome Back Big Time
"It's so good to be home!" Kendall said as the gang stepped back into the Palm Woods lobby for the first time in two and a half months.
"I second that." Logan said, appearing at his best friend's side.
"Third," Piper said, "This was the longest tour ever."
"But it was fun." Carlos piped in.
"And now we're famous!" James said excitedly.
"Welcome back boys, and hello, Piper. I'm not sure we've met before. I'm Miss Collins, the teacher for the Palm Woods school." You guys are three weeks behind on school work, and as seniors, that could be highly detrimental. So here's your math homework, reading assignments, and your science project guidelines." Miss Collins suddenly appeared in front of the group, "You have a week to get all of this done."
"A-A-A week?" Logan's jaw dropped.
"Oh, Piper, you're about to meet the legit Big Time Brains, FYI." Kendall nodded at Logan.
"Let me guess, he's about three seconds from…"
"How am I supposed to get all of this done in a week?" Logan exclaimed, thrashing his arms about angrily.
"It has to average a C+ in order for you to be able to continue working until next marking period." Miss Collins continued.
Logan fell back onto the carpet with a thud, sending papers flying.
"Logan!" Piper put her hand over her mouth, trying to look worried, but yet hide her grin all at the same time.
"He'll be fine. He'll get up in a minute." James said, brushing his hand in Logan's direction, ignoring him.
"Well, welcome back! I suppose tour went well?" Miss Collins said.
"Yes ma'am, it did. Thank you." Kendall smiled politely.
"Did Miss Collins just come up to us and hand us three weeks of school work and tell us it's due in a week?" Logan said slowly, sitting up off the ground.
"Yeah" Piper replied, looking down at her boyfriend.
Logan put his palm up to his face before falling back in the floor. Piper shook her head slowly, still looking in Logan's direction before a slow, rude toned voice broke her concentration.
"Well, well, well, look what the hockey players dragged in."
"Oh no…" Kendall trailed off.
Piper turned around at the sound to see Lucky Adams standing at the check in desk with her elbow propped up nonchalantly.
"What are you doing here?" Piper snapped.
"I just landed a record deal, the deal of a lifetime actually." She replied, walking towards her.
"Where did you find a record label with enough money to pay for all of the autotune necessary to hide you nasty voice?" she said.
"Funny you say that, because it just so happens I just got signed to the same record label as you. Rocque Records, correct? So apparently, if they have enough to hide what all the alcohol and drugs have done to your voice, mine will be just fine." Lucky said, putting a hand on her hip.
"Are you kidding me?" Piper scoffed, "What made you want to sing anyway? You've always been an actor!"
"I wanted to branch out from just acting and modeling. You know, expanding my horizons?" she said.
"Well then, I heard there's a great club opening up the street that's looking for some pretty high class strippers. I almost put in an application for you." Piper flipped her brown hair.
Just then, Logan sat back up, rubbing the back of his head, "What's going on?"
"The smack down of the century is about to go down." James laughed, amused.
"I'm kinda scared." Carlos said, putting his helmet on.
Logan turned his attention to the two girls, standing inches apart. He stood up quickly, rushing over.
"Piper, don't do this…" he said, grabbing her by her arms, holding her back.
"Oh, so now your little boyfriend is going to stick up for you? God, how are you two still together? It's not like little Logie's going to put out, and you can't go without tapping something."
Piper lunged forward angrily, "You can mess with me, but you get on his jock and you're mine!"
"Babe, calm down. It's not that big of a deal." Logan said calmly.
Lucky walked up and got right in Piper's face, "You're pathetic."
Piper lunged forward again, trying desperately to get out of Logan's tight grip, but he wasn't letting go any time soon.
"Guys, a little help here!" Logan said through gritted teeth, trying not to let go of Piper.
Kendall rushed up behind Lucky and grabbed her arms, putting her in the same position as Piper, "Okay, this is ridiculous! I have no clue what issues you two have with each other, but it needs to be worked out, now!"
Lucky turned and shot an alluring look at Kendall, "Hey sexy, I should have known that you'd be the one to run to my rescue. Have you dumped the country bumpkin yet, because I'm beyond free Friday night. All of Friday night."
Piper's jaw dropped dramatically. Lucky was such a slut. She rolled her eyes knowingly as Kendall stood there, dumbfounded.
"AHEM!"
"And here goes the rest of the world." Logan said.
"Jo ,I'm sorry, they were fighting…"
"Excuse me, Lucky, I believe, isn't it?" Jo asked, approaching Lucky slowly.
Lucky nodded, still trying to give Kendall the sexiest looks she could muster.
"I suggest you leave my best friend and my boyfriend alone before I brand you like the cow that you are!" Jo snapped.
Piper laughed loudly at Jo's comment before Lucky broke out of Kendall's grip, "You know what, I'm so not done here. I will destroy you Piper, your career and your relationship. You'll be done."
She then turned to Kendall, running her hand down his cheek slowly, "And I'll be back. Keep your Friday open."
She winked at him suggestively before walking off towards the elevator, never looking back.
"I hate her!" Piper exclaimed.
"Me too!" Jo said, "There's no sense in that!"
"You two need to get this worked out!" Kendall said, "It's so stupid! You guys are going to be living in the same building and working at the same record label! You can't randomly duke it out in front of everyone!"
"I do not feel like being mediated right now! Oh, that pissed me off!" Piper huffed, pushing a strand of hair behind her hair angrily.
Logan put his arm around her, rubbing her shoulder, attempting to calm her down, "It'll be fine. Don't let her get to you."
She sighed, "Fine, I just can't believe she lives here now!"
"Well, I guess there's nothing really you can do about it." Logan said, "Now let's go upstairs."
"Yeah, I need to chill out, either by the pool or in my room." Piper agreed as they headed towards the elevator.
Logan scoffed, "Chill, uh no. Hello, three weeks of school work?"
"Logan, don't start with me." She rubbed her face dramatically.
"It's got to be done or we can't work!" Logan said, "If we have to wait a whole term before we can work again, we might as well call our career quits."
"Can't it wait one day?" Piper groaned as the elevator began to go up, "I will sit in 2J with you tomorrow and do that stupid science project until midnight if I have to."
"You can chill out all you want, but I'm going to work on this. If you're going to be distracting, I'll probably just go to 2J." he said with a serious tone.
"You have got to be kidding me? Fine, I'll work too. You better be glad I love you as much as I do, because that last comment really ticked me off." She said, putting her hands on her hips.
"Sorry, but we're seniors, babe. We can't just let stuff go like this." He said.
Piper rolled her eyes as he went into a full-fledged nerd rant about school work and colleges and a bunch of other stuff that Piper really didn't care about.
When they got into 10K, she dropped her bags down in the doorway with a sigh, "Thank God."
"Hey guys, welcome back!" Marlena said, hugging Piper around the shoulders.
"Thanks" Piper smiled, "How's it been?"
"It's been good. How's the boyfriend?" Marlena asked, watching Logan rush into the living room area and spread all of the papers out onto the coffee table, muttering something under his breath.
"Uh…stressed?" Piper said, playing with the end of a strand of hair, "Apparently we have a week to get three weeks of school work done."
"Can't it wait one day?" she replied.
"That's what I said, but apparently not." She said.
'"Piper, do you have a pencil?" Logan spoke up.
"In my room on the cup on the desk, please don't make a mess." She said, "And grab my spare pair of glasses off of my nightstand while you're in there please, Lo."
"'Kay." He replied, heading off.
"He's going to be the death of me." Piper said to Marlena.
Marlena laughed, "You two aren't having problems are you?"
Piper shook her head, "Nah, he's just being himself."
"Are you coming?" Logan asked her.
She shot a look over at Marlena, shaking her head before walking over to the couch. She sat down beside Logan and grabbed the leopard print glasses case off the table, sliding her dark rimmed glasses on her face.
She glanced over at Logan, about to say something until he smiled widely, "There's something about you wearing your glasses that I find so sexy."
Piper smiled uneasily, "So you're attracted to me more when I look like a huge nerd? Nice, Lo."
Logan laughed, "You look amazing. You've got that smart and sexy look going on."
"FYI, I just look it. I'm not the most studious person out there. That, dear boyfriend, is where we differ. I would have done all of this work anywhere from one to two nights before it was due and prayed it was right."
Logan looked at her as if she'd lost her mind and then shook his head, as if to forget what she'd just said, "Well, maybe I can rub off on you."
"Logan," she said, sounding serious, but she cracked a smile all the same, "you rub off and on me enough, babe."
Logan smiled back, shaking his head slowly.
"So, let's make this easy. I'll do ten, you do ten, we co…"
"I don't cheat."
"Logan…"
"Fine!" He gave in, "There you go, compromising my beliefs again."
Piper half smiled, rolling her eyes as she picked up one of the assignments with an irritated groan.
About two hours into it, Piper tossed another completed workbook to the table, "I am officially done with the math stuff!"
"Yeah, you wouldn't have been able to do it without me." He said.
"Whatever, I'm done and that's all that matters."
Piper's phone began to vibrate from the table, playing "Like a G6" loudly.
"I'll be back." She glanced at Logan, who didn't' even look up from whatever he was reading to acknowledge her.
She looked at the caller ID before answering it excitedly.
"Hey girl!" Piper said rather loudly.
"Shh!" Logan said, pointing for her to go out on the balcony.
Piper moved the phone from in front of her face and put her hand over the mouth piece, "I hate you!"
Logan rolled his eyes, smiling widely.
"Okay, Logan just had to make a point that I was interrupting his nerdy fest." Piper said, "What's up?"
"I landed an acting job in LA. I'm moving to the Palm Woods!" Ellie said excitedly from the other line.
Piper gasped loudly, "No way! I am so excited! When?"
"A week from tomorrow!" she replied.
"Oh my gosh, have you told James yet?"
"Nope, not yet. You're the first person to find out apart from my parents and my sister."
"He's going to freak! You have to tell him!"
"Oh, I am. I'm going to tell him next!"
"Can I tell Logan?" Piper asked.
"Mhm, sure!" Ellie said, "It's not like it's a secret or something!"
"Alright!" She said, "Tell me when you get into town next week where we can hang!"
"Okay, I have to go call James!" she said.
"Okay, bye!" Piper responded before hanging up the phone.
She walked back inside eying Logan, who was hunched over tons of papers looking rather serious, biting on the end of a pen. She titled her head to one side, studying her boyfriend and how stressed he looked.
She walked behind the couch and draped her arms around his neck, hugging him from behind.
"What 'cha working on, babe?" she said, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"Planning a science project." He said shortly, "I can't match up all of these figures though."
"I'm sorry…" she trailed off before leaning in to kiss him on the cheek, "I wish I could help you."
She rubbed his upper arms moving up to his shoulders as he pulled back from the papers and leaned closer into her. He let his head fall back on the back of the couch where he was looking up at her.
"You promised me you wouldn't be a distraction." He sighed, a small playing on his face.
"So you want me to stop and go away?" she put a deeply hurt look on her face, moving her hands away.
Logan pulled her hands back towards him, letting her palms rest on the top of his hands. She let go and wrapped her arms back around him again.
"So do you want me to leave you alone?" she asked, leaning in to kiss the side of his neck gently.
"Not exactly." He said, "Come over here."
"Mm'kay" she said, walking around to the other side of the couch. Logan took her hand in his and pulled her down onto his lap, wrapping both arms around her waist, holding her tight.
She leaned in to him, resting her head in the crook of his neck. He laced their fingers together as they sat there.
"See, this is what I wanted to do all day." She smiled, "Wasn't it a much better idea?"
"I'm starting to like it better." He said, "I have a headache now from that stupid science project."
Piper smiled, "I'm sorry, baby. See, you should have listened to me."
"Maybe I should have after all." Logan rubbed her back gently, "I'm starting to like this."
"Maybe I'm rubbing off on you." She said, smiling into his skin.
"You do enough of that as it is." He laughed.
Piper sat up and gave him a gentle shove, "Shut up, you stole my joke, meanie."
Logan kissed her on the cheek, "I love you."
"I love you too." She said, laying her head back over on his shoulder.
"I'm gonna end up falling asleep." She said, closing her eyes.
"Mmm, that's fine with me. Maybe I'll do the same." He said, kissing the top of her head.
"What about all of your work, Logie?" she said playfully.
"Well, instead of doing my anatomy homework…I could always study yours." He said, a mischievous smile coming across his face.
Piper laughed, "That was so lame, but I love it."
"Ha, I try." He said.
"So is that a yes or a no on that nap?" she said, doodling a bunch of nonsense into his chest with her finger.
"As long as you keep looking at me like that, with those glasses on, it'll be a yes." He smiled.
"Sounds good to me." She grinned.
Later that night, as Piper and Logan sat watching music videos on Fuse, having a popcorn fight, someone rapidly knocked on the door.
"Who in the world?" she trailed off.
"Baby, baby, baby, ohhhh…" Logan sang along with the TV off key, throwing a pillow at Piper, hitting her in the back as she walked away.
Piper rolled her eyes, "That boyfriend of mine."
She swung the door open to see Jo, smiling widely, bouncing up and down, "Oh my gosh, guess what?"
"Kendall finally agreed with James that it wasn't gay for a guy to pluck his eyebrows, and then took the hint?" Piper said, mimicking Jo's excitement.
Jo's face dropped, "No" she replied, dripping with sarcasm.
"Oh, then, what?" Piper asked.
A loud thud, followed by Logan swearing rather loudly broke Piper's concentration. She looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes.
"Are you gonna…" Jo pointed behind her.
"No, no, I'm not. I've learned, with these boys, just…don't ask." Piper sighed, "Anyway, what are you freaking about?"
"Two things actually!" the blonde said excitedly, "Did you know that Ellie's moving here?"
Piper nodded with a smile, "Yeah, I know! I'm totally excited!"
"Me too! James was bouncing off the walls when he found out!"
"Awh, I bet he was! I love excited, couple-y stuff." She grinned.
"Piper, who is that?" Logan exclaimed.
"It's Jo, shush!" she yelled over her shoulder before turning back to Jo, "If Logan ever goes missing…you will know why."
Jo laughed, "Boys…anyway, the second piece of information…I got a call from a casting agent from the CW and they want me to audition for their new show New Town High tomorrow! I am so beyond excited!"
"Oh gosh, way to go, girl!" Piper hugged her best friend.
"I know. I just feel bad though. Camille's really jealous. She hasn't booked an acting job since the boys' music video." Jo said.
"Well, that's not your fault." She replied.
"I know, but to actually get called for an audition rather than just go in for one…"
"It's a big deal and a big difference."
"Yep."
"Piper, how do you switch over from basic cable to the box?"
"You have got to be kidding me." She rolled her eyes.
"I'll let you go deal with him." Jo laughed, "Kendall's probably doing God only knows what right now too."
"Kendall's so much tamer than Logan though. You have nothing to worry about. I constantly have to wonder if the dog's going to be alive by the time I get back home sometimes." She shook her head.
"See you later!" she smiled.
"Bye!"
Piper turned back into 10K, shutting and locking the door behind her. She walked back into the living room to see popcorn all over the place and Logan muttering under his breath at the TV, which was speaking Spanish back at him.
He looked up and saw Piper standing there, arms crossed across her chest and smiled uneasily, "I'm sorry?"
"Give me the remote, Logan."
She shook her head at the boy as he handed the remote over to her, looking at her rather sheepishly. She fixed the TV back and handed him the remote as she started cleaning up the popcorn.
"Sorry about all of this." Logan spoke up.
"I'm used to it, Lo. I've lived on a bus with you for three months. I'm beyond used to it. Actually, I'm four times used to it." She laughed.
"So you aren't mad at me?" he asked.
"Nah, baby, not yet." She said.
"Thanks, you really are the best." He smiled, sitting back against the couch.
"No problem" she replied.
She looked back over at Logan and caught him glancing at her. She looked away with a blush, a kneejerk reaction. She loved that. She loved how she still got that giddy, crush feeling with Logan that was present ever since the day they met. She had this odd feeling that, that was never going to go away too.
After throwing the popcorn mess away, Piper walked back over to the couch and sat down beside Logan. She glanced at the TV. He was watching some hockey news on ESPN2. She rolled her eyes.
"How are your Wilds doing?" she smiled.
"Psh, hockey's not in season, babe." He said, "This is pre-season stuff, drafts, injuries, training, stuff like that."
"Kind of like football?" she asked.
Logan nodded, listening to something on the TV, "Oh, come on, shut up about the Penguins and the Hurricanes. Move on!"
"Boys…" Piper muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" Logan looked at her and laughed.
"You heard nothing."
"Oh, I think I heard something."
Piper stuck her tongue out at the boy before he re-adjusted his position on the couch where his head was now in her lap.
"Why do you do that?" she grinned, running a hand through his spiky brown hair.
Logan shrugged. "Because I love you."
He reached up and took her hand as she was about to run it through his hair again and kissed her palm. She smiled as he let her go. She ran her hands through his hair a few more times.
"You tired yet?" she asked, "It seems like it takes me no time to fall asleep, but you could go on for hours."
"Nah that nap set me pretty straight." He said, playing with the pendants dangling off her long necklace.
Piper looked down at him before something caught her eye. Logan had stuck his blue pen in his pants pocket, the bright blue top sticking out. She grabbed it and pulled the top off, sticking it to the top of the pen. She grabbed his arm and flipped it over, carefully drawing a heart right under his wrist. Inside the heart, she quickly wrote, "Piper loves her Logan" with a smiley face.
She put the cap back on the pen and stuck it back in his pocket with a grin. She looked down at Logan. He rolled his eyes at her, but smiled softly up at her.
"I love you too." He replied.
"I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along." She said, running her hands through his hair again, "I guess I would have ended up in rehab or something awful like that."
"I prefer not to think about how awkward and awful my life was before you, just saying." He said, sounding rather serious.
"It couldn't have been that bad." She said.
"Oh yeah, it could have, trust me. Ask Camille about some of my horror stories sometimes. Oh, or Jo for that matter." He said.
"Whatever, Lo." She smiled.
"So, what's the plan for tomorrow since you don't have plans and you have free time?" he asked.
"I don't know…I'm thinking about sleeping in, maybe with this boy, if he wants to stay over. I don't know though. He can be kind of picky at time, and his school work is dominating his life right now." She said jokingly.
"Well, that guy better rearrange his plans because deep down, I think he realizes his girl is more important than school work. Especially if he has, I don't know, a week to do all of it. It's no big deal as of right now." Logan replied.
"Well, don't tell anyone, but, I think I'm totally head over heels for this guy. I think he's the one. I've told him in more or less words, but never to his face." She grinned.
"I think the guy would tell you…I would tell you…I love you, and I feel the exact same way." He said.
Piper smiled again, something she was getting rather used to doing. Logan always made her smile and everything about him, to her, was perfect. There was nothing that could tear them apart.
For now.
N O T E S:
So this is the first installment! I'm really happy about this sequel and hope you guys like it! It's a lot more dramatic than "Can't Be Tamed" and a lot of characters we haven't seen before or didn't see enough of take a more important role in here too.
- Lucky Adams belongs to PrettyLittleRush, by the way, and so does Holly Fields, an upcoming character.
- Ellie belongs to BigTimeCrush21
- Karlee belongs to ShowGirl14
- They're all amazing friends and great authors, by the way.
And, I've never been able to pick someone's (singing) voice out and say, "That's what Piper would sound like." Until now. If you've ever wondered what Piper sounds like in action, look up Cady Groves. She's who I'd want her to sound like.
And that's all for now, kiddies.
Xoxo,
Shelby