Elevate

By: Riley

Summary - From the outside, the music industry looks glamorous. But on the inside, it's a lot of hard work and it can be cutthroat. Big Time Rush learn that the hard way…by experiencing it themselves…

.:Chapter One- Big Time Gold Album:.

"So what do you wear to a party that announced the certification of your first album?" Logan Mitchell asked as he stood in front of his closet. He looked up as James Diamond placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back a few steps, looking at the spread that was in front of him.

"Whatever it is, you won't find it in your closet." James replied with a half smile.

"Gee, thanks." Logan rolled his eyes.

"No problem, buddy." James replied with a warm smile, patting him on the shoulder and walking around him to look at the clothes as well. "But if we try to mix and match some things, we might be able to find what you're looking for." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his lucky comb, running it through his hair a few times. "But, of course, no one could as good as me."

"Logan, you might as well choose whatever you want to wear," Kendall Knight, who was sitting on his bed in the room, watching them, commented. "Because we all know that in James' mind he has a plan of making sure that none of us look as good as he does."

James turned to Kendall with a wide eyed expression, slowly pointing to himself. "Moi?" He questioned with as much innocence as he could possible project in his voice, although he was smiling like a loon. "Never."

"You," Kendall replied, pointing right as James as well. "Always." He sat up straight, tossing a hockey magazine aside. "I don't even really understand why you guys are freaking out? It's just like any other party that Gustavo has ever made us go to." He rolled his green eyes. "You dress up, go to Rocque Records, and have to meet as many boring people as you possibly can in twenty minutes, before you eat food that is disgusting, and then you have to talk to those boring people, acting like you know what they're talking about when it comes to record sales and everything."

"But Kendall, you're forgetting that at this part, we get to figure out what certification our album got." Logan reminded him. "And because of that, I predict a 75% chance of this party not being boring!"

"Only 75%?" James asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"This is Gustavo we're talking about," Logan reminded him. "Remember the time that he had the party for us that we couldn't go to and we just had a party at the Palm Woods?" He grinned as he turned and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, from what Kelly told me, that party was very boring to Griffin and Fujisaki."

"Anything is boring to Fujisaki," James pointed out. "He's, like, 92, I'm surprised he's not dead yet!"

"My point," Logan stated, grabbing his attention once more. "Is that this time, we should at least be able to have a say in what happens at the party, you know, like what music they play or the appetizers." He raised his eyebrows. "At least, that's what I assumed when Kelly said that she wanted us to get there early."

"I don't care about that," Kendall stated as he waved a hand in the air. "I'm just glad that our friends can come this time, at least they'll have some fun." He gave a half smile. "Besides, with how much Camille has been begging me to invite her to some sort of party that we've gone to, this will at least get her to back off for a while."

"Is it everyone from the Palm Woods?" James asked as he effectively pushed Logan out of the way and tore through Logan's closet, tossing clothes this way and that as he tried to find something for his smarter friend to wear.

"No, just a couple of people," Kendall said as he shook his head. "So apart from mom and Katie; I invited Jo, Camille, and Stephanie, since they're the ones that we usually hang out with." He paused. "Although it wouldn't surprise me if the Jennifers find their way there, you know, since they have connections everywhere."

"And yet, they don't have any major film, dance, or singing roles." James reminded him.

"Don't let them hear you say that."

Logan smiled as he sat down on his bed and watched as James continued to go through his closet. He winced a little bit each and every time that James looked at something and threw it onto the floor. It just meant that he was going to have to clean it all up himself later, after he had worked so hard to arrange his clothes perfectly. But it was for a good cause, not too many people could say that they moved out to LA and in six months had a CD put out.

Logan blinked and suddenly looked around when he realized that it was too quiet. "Hey guys, where's Carlos?"

"You noticed how quiet it was, too?" Kendall asked, totally deadpan. "Last I checked, he said that he was going to the pool." He paused for a moment. "Which means that he's going to be running back in here in about thirty seconds, screaming his head off, because he managed to piss someone off."

As soon as he finished the sentence, they could hear a scream growing louder and louder from the hallway outside of their apartment. Kendall, Logan, and James looked at each other for a moment before hurrying over to the door of the bedroom and poking their heads out, just in time to see the door to the apartment fly open and Carlos Garcia come darting into the apartment, closing the door behind him, resting his back on it.

"How did you do that?" James asked, turning to Kendall.

Kendall just shrugged modestly. "It's like clockwork." He replied.

"Carlos, what did you do this time?" Logan asked as he waited for his friend to calm down and catch his breath.

"I was just talking to Stephanie about how much fun this party was going to be tonight," Carlos replied, placing a hand on his chest, breathing heavily. "And the Jennifers heard me and got mad that we didn't invite them, and next thing I know, the whole Palm Woods is mad that they couldn't come."

"You didn't invite them all, did you?" Logan asked, his eyes growing wide. Even Carlos isn't that stupid.

"No," Carlos shook his head. "But they chased me all the way back here." He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I don't think I've ever run that fast before; at least not since we were chased by Ms. Magicowski's crazy dog."

Kendall sucked in a sharp breath as he remembered that day. He supposed that it was his fault that they had been chased. When they were about nine or ten they had been using one of their snow days off of school to go sledding throughout the neighborhood. They were walking back to Kendall's house when they spotted her dog in the backyard. Kendall thought that it was funny how he could throw some snowballs over the fence for the dog to try and play catch with. Soon, Logan, James, and Carlos had joined in and they were playing with the dog. But someone, he still wasn't so sure, had thrown an ice ball at the dog and it had gone nuts. Of course they didn't know that the dog had dug a hole under the fence a couple of days before, at least not until it started to crawl under the fence towards them. They had turned and ran away as fast as they could, but ended up being chased by the dog around the block four times before they were able to get into Kendall's house and to safety. But it took them weeks before they went the normal way to school after that.

Plus, it gave Carlos the insatiable fear of big dogs.

"I'm still sorry about that," Kendall said defensively as soon as he noticed that Logan and James were staring hard at him. "Anyway, it's good that you're here, Carlos, James was just going through Logan's closet to look for clothes for tonight and I'm sure that he's going to go through yours any minute."

"It doesn't matter what I choose for Carlos," James complained, crossing his arms over his chest. "He's just going to ruin it with that stupid helmet anyway!"

Carlos smiled as he reached up and double tapped the hockey helmet that was on his head. "That's right! I'm not going to get rid of this thing and you can't make me!" He stuck his tongue out at his friends. "So there."

"Just shut up and let's get going," Logan said. He tilted his watch towards his face and looked at the time. "Gustavo is going to be really mad if we're late, especially since he specifically told us to get there early so we can go over some things about our next album before the party starts."

Gustavo Rocque, their music producer, was well known for making boy bands, and he was the one that got Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James to become Big Time Rush. Although they did, sort of, consider him their friend, they could do without his constant screaming, ranting, raving, and berating them. It would be the sign of the apocalypse if Gustavo Rocque willingly gave them a compliment and they weren't going to hold their breath about it. Even though he did tend to make them feel bad, he was always there to try and help them make their CD the best that it could be, and now they were going to see how all of their hard work paid off.

"When is he not mad?" Kendall replied with a smile.

"You know, I think this is the first time that I've seen Gustavo actually talk to someone without raising his voice." James commented to Jo Taylor, Stephanie King, and Camille Roberts at Rocque Records later that night.

Gustavo had converted one of the dance studios in the building to a party space and it was packed. There were people that worked all throughout Rocque Records there, Griffin was there, Mr. Fujisaki was there, kids from the Palm Woods were there (Gustavo had let them in after he had screamed at Big Time Rush for not following his instructions), and even Dak Zevon, Jordan Sparks, and Ed Begley Jr. had made an appearance earlier that night. And they were all there to congratulate Big Time Rush on the completion and record sales of their first album.

"I think he has to be calm," Camille replied, pulling her hair from her face. "From what you guys have told me, and from what I've seen, he seems to be kind of afraid of Griffin, and since he's here, I think that may have something to do with it." She couldn't help but giggle with the other girls as they watched Griffin say something to Gustavo, which clearly irked him, as Gustavo gritted his teeth together and said something back, nodding slowly.

"Thank you guys for inviting us," Stephanie said as he lowered her video camera from her eye and turned to Big Time Rush. "This party is really cool and we can't wait to see how well your CD did."

"Yeah, you and us both." Katie Knight, Kendall's younger sister, agreed as she walked over with a cup of punch in her hand. But the smile on her face seemed kind of odd, like she was waiting for something to happen. She tilted her head and gave her brother a sweet smile. "I can't wait to see how my brother and his friends have-"

"Katie," Kendall interrupted. "Mom has already told you that you can't have any of the money that I'm giving you guys from our record sales." He said patiently. "At least not until you turn 18, so all of your compliments and everything isn't going to help your case."

Katie pouted, sticking out her lower lip. "Fine." She replied shortly. She shuffled her feet for as second. "But I really am proud of you, Big Bro."

"Thanks, Baby Sister." Kendall replied with a smile, putting an arm around her shoulders and drawing her into his side for a hug.

"I don't mean to interrupt this feel good, family moment, but it's polite to greet all of your guests, not just your friends." Riley Jackson-McGuire commented as she and her brothers and sister managed to squeeze their way through the crowded room to stand by their friends. "Hey guys, congratulations!" She greeted.

"Hey!" Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James replied in unison, their eyes lighting up when spotting their friends and "co-workers".

Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney Jackson-McGuire, aka the DarkElements, were a band that Big Time Rush has been working with for a little over a year. They had become co-workers shortly after Big Time Rush had gone out to LA to start their band, and Gustavo and Griffin quickly decided that they need help. So they got some help from Dak Zevon, but as he was busy with his own performance career (as he specialized in musicals on Broadway/on the big screen/on the small screen) they needed another band to help them. The DarkElements are originally from Sydney, Australia, where they have found numerous amounts of success. They went over to LA to try and make it big in America a few months before Big Time Rush moved to LA, and Gustavo (albeit unwittingly) agreed to hire them to work with Big Time Rush. Even though the DarkElements specialize in hard/alternative/Punk rock for their band, they had originally started in pop music, so they were the ones that Gustavo knew could easily help them.

So they worked together, while Big Time Rush worked on their debut album titled BTR, the DarkElements was working on remastering their first CD from Australia (which is self-tilted) to be released in the US and as they are seen as rivals in the music industry, they released them at the same time. But while they were seen as rivals in the music industry, when they weren't working, BTR and DE were actually really good friends. Even their manager/music producer, Ronan McGuire seemed to have become friends with Gustavo, although you wouldn't know that just by watching them make fun of each other all the time.

"So, first CD certification anxiety, how does it feel?" Patrick asked, his blue eyes shining with excitement. "Kind of got that queasy feeling right?"

"Right," Carlos agreed, placing a hand on his stomach. "We're really nervous."

"Don't be," Sydney stated with a calm smile, dimples appearing in his cheeks. "The fact that your guys CD has gone flying off the shelves as well as been selling like crazy on iTunes is a really good sign that your CD is going to do well."

"What about your guys' CD?" Jo asked as she turned to the raven-haired family. "You released them at the same time as the guys, when are you going to know about yours?" She lightly tapped her nails on her cup of punch. It's hard to believe that people that used to be so closed off are now so open and…helpful.

"Not for a couple of months," Rhuben replied as raised and lowered her left shoulder in a shrug. That one-armed shrug was one of the many things that the Jacksons were famous for. Others being that they were very perceptive, could make you scared with a glare, and cared a lot about other people. "But it's just as well, apparently something screwed up with iTunes on our page…?"she shrugged.

"That's technology for ya." Sydney added with a short roll of his eyes. "So, did you guys meet everyone that works at Rocque Records yet?" He stifled a smile. "Kind of boring blokes, huh?"

"You don't know the half of it," Kendall replied as he rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry about it, Kendall, almost every record company have workers that are really, really, boring." Riley reassured him. "It's just the way it is. Usually they're the ones that work on the paper work and the finances, while the music producers and everyone else are the ones that are fun."

"Gasp," Noah gave a smirk as he turned his attention to his sister. "You called him 'Kendall' it must be the sign of the apocalypse."

"Hey, it's a special day for them," Riley merely shrugged. "I figured I'd lay off for tonight."

"Good to know." Kendall deadpanned.

"Guys, shh, I think Gustavo's going to announce what certification you got now." Rhuben reached out and grabbed onto Logan's arm, giving him a small smile. "Come on, you want to be at the front. You're never going to forget this for the rest of your life." She looked down at Sydney, who earnestly nodded in agreement.

"No, Rhuben being easily excited is the sign of the apocalypse," Stephanie joked and they all laughed as the moved to the front of the room as Gustavo and his partner, Kelly Wainright, grabbed everyone's attention by lightly tapping the side of his glass with a fork.

"May we have everyone's attention please?" Kelly asked, looking around the room, and then smiling. "We're all here today so we can celebrate Big Time Rush's first CD." She said and then paused for the applause that came from everyone in the room right after. "They have worked really hard for the past year and we can honestly say that it was probably one of the best CDs that we have made in a while."

Gustavo nodded and spoke up. "I know that people had their doubts about me when I said that I was making a new boy band, but after I met these boys…" he paused and looked a little uncomfortable. "I knew that they were different. Even if they all sucked, they had the heart and some passion in what they were doing." He paused at the laughter that came from the crowd. "I'm not joking." Even harder laughter.

"Just get on with it," Kelly said through a forced smile, elbowing Gustavo in the side with her elbow.

"Fine, fine," Gustavo waved an arm towards the boy. "Dogs come up here." He paused as he looked at Griffin and Fujisaki. "Yes, I call them 'Dogs', it's my special nickname for them."

Yeah, that's it. James thought as he, Kendall, Logan, and Carlos moved to stand beside Gustavo and Kelly. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation before wiping his sweaty palms off on the sides of his pants. This is it, I can finally see if my dreams are coming true! He couldn't help but smile with pride as he looked at his friends, who were also waiting anxiously.

"So, with all of their hard work and their record sales; selling 67,000 copies in the first week of its release," Gustavo paused as he and Kelly grabbed onto four large frames that were leaning against the wall and handed them out to the boys. "We are proud to tell them that their first CD…went Gold!"

Kendall, Logan, James, and Carlos let out different sounds of excitement and surprise as they grabbed onto and looked at their frames. On one side was a large gold CD, on the other side was a large picture of their album art, and on a small plaque at the bottom of the frame read: Big Time Rush, B.T.R. 24 KT Gold plated record. Underneath that it read: "This Gold Album is certified to" and then their name was placed under that.

"This is so awesome!" Carlos declared as he held up his large frame and turned it around to stare at the plaque on it himself, his eyes growing wide as he continued to stare at it. "We have ourselves our very own Gold CD."

"And it's only going to get better from here." Kendall said.

A/N: Alright, so this is the first chapter to my new story, it was kind of slow, but I still liked it. Like my BTR stories usually are, this is mostly going to be a BTR/OC (DE) friendship story, but there will be romance in it as well. (Also, just so you know I have romance centered stories coming up soon). As well as it being a heavy look into the music industry, I'm putting a LOT of teenage pressures in here as well as pressure from the music industry as well.

Eh, sorry I didn't show Mrs. Knight and Ronan in this chapter, I didn't really see how I could fit them in here when I wanted it to focus on the guys and their party as well as getting their CD certification.

Almost every character from the show will appear at least once in this story, so there's going to be massive amounts of friendship/family/brotherly-sisterly love in this story so I hope you like that as well. What did you think about this first chapter? I'm having some of the things that they do in the story mirror actual events that the guys have done in real life, but in show verse. For example, having their first CD go gold.

I hope you guys liked this and I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles