Disclaimer: I don't own Big Time Rush.

Part 1 – Extra Credit

"Please, is there any way I can get extra credit? I need it!" begged Kendall, literally on his knees, shaking clasped hands in the air. "If I don't, I'll fail! And you won't want that, do you? Failing a Big Time Rush member." He smiled angelically, as if that excuse would gain him that desired work. The teacher, Miss Collins, stood in front of him, arms crossed over her chest, not amused or convinced. Kendall bit on his bottom lip, trying his best to stay calm and not shake the teacher wildly and scream at her like a lunatic. "Please?" he asked in a smaller voice, widening those innocent greens and pouting his pink lips. "I promise I'll do a good job. You can even do pass-fail! Pretty please with a cherry and whipped cream on top?" He gave a broad smile, hands becoming tense as he tightened his clasp.

Miss Collins looked at him with a grey stare. "I don't like cherries," she said straightforwardly. Kendall's eyebrows turned down, mouth half-way open, but she cut him before he could speak, "However, I will allow you to do the extra credit."

Kendall beamed. "Really? What do I have to do, then?"

"A video. You can make it about someone, something, but it has to be original and informative. Music video, documentary, anything. I'll even allow creative pranks as long as no danger is involved. And no inappropriate stuff either. Also, Logan, he came earlier for extra credit, too. So I suppose you two can pair up. Does that sound good?"

Kendall almost said, 'Logan? Extra credit? Are you serious? I bet he has like a ninety-something and wants a hundred, right?' But instead, he said, "It sounds awesome."

Just then, Logan barged into the room, eyebrows furrowing when he saw Kendall.

As if it was fate or a coincidence that he'd come in at the right time, Kendall stood up and grinned at him. "'Sup, partner."

ooo

"I would drop the f-bomb on you, but that's not the proper way to settle this. So, on Monday—since I have until Wednesday to turn the project in—I will tell Miss Collins that I am working on this alone, and so-will-you," said Logan, frowning at a gaping Kendall.

"But I can't do this alone! It'll take me a month!" whined Kendall.

"Don't exaggerate. If you do something easy, say…a rock, you can be done by Monday. That is, if you don't mind unoriginality. So there. Do we have a deal?" He concluded his offer with a sincere smile.

They were at a library. Kendall had decided to follow Logan from school, chattering about ideas for the project throughout the whole walk. That is, until the pale boy had burst Kendall's bubble right at the front of the double-door entrance. The taller boy had right out moped when his brain registered the rejecting words. So now, they were seated at a table, where Logan had an open book, eyes glued to it as he attempted to block out his friend's complains. That wasn't working so well, though. Kendall kept blabbering in that angry, soft voice of his, desperately trying to get the brunette to change his mind.

"In conclusion, we do not," retorted Kendall. "I get paired up with you, and that's final! Got it, Logan?" He jabbed his finger onto the open book.

At that, Logan stiffly craned his neck. "Don't do that again," he declared, switching his eyes back to the nail that was digging itself into the white pages engraved with black text and colourful pictures.

"Do what again?" Kendall's eyebrows rose slightly, and a sly smile crossed his lips. "Oh, you mean this?" He jabbed another finger onto the page, tapping his fingers roughly against it.

Meanwhile, Logan's eyes were twitching, neck jerking along. "Okay, fine, I'll be your partner!" He'd said this with such a powerful voice, for everyone nearby turned their heads and half glared, half stared at him quizzically.

Logan quickly hid his face behind the book, embarrassed to the point of being the colour of a tomato. Kendall, oblivious to this misshapen, was grinning like an idiot.

"Yes! Okay, we can start planning today. What are we going to do? An interview, a mini-movie or what?"

The stares had long been gone, but Logan's face was still burning with shame and fury. He put the book down and rubbed his face harshly, then let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know," he said dully. "Um, we could do an interview. How about Kelly, or–"

"James and Carlos!" exclaimed Kendall.

Logan looked at the blonde, baffled. "Why?"

"Because, uh, duh—it's going to be pretty easy interviewing them. We won't have to ask a lot of questions or do a lot of stuff."

"That's the point. Miss Collins said it had to be original, and interviewing James and Carlos is not original."

"How so?" demanded Kendall.

"For one thing, we've known them since we were little kids. So there's nothing to ask. Plus, you know how they get in front of cameras. James acts all mighty and Carlos turns into a maniac—even though he kind of is one already. I'm not too sure if we'll be able to tame them down for a real interview," explained Logan.

"What if we spice it up?" suggested Kendall. Logan gave him a questionable look. "I mean, instead of doing a regular, boring interview, we can ask them…unusual questions without them finding out what we're doing. We could do like a secret interview; cam-cording them incognito. It'll be fun!"

Logan, not knowing whether to consider this idea as brilliant or ridiculously stupid, just nodded. "Uh-huh…and?"

"And, they'll never find out," said Kendall with confidence. "Who knows, maybe we'll find some deep, dark secrets…"

Those three words lingered for a long time in Logan's mind. And so, when they finally arrived at the Palm Woods hotel, Logan stopped Kendall in the hallway, just a few feet from the door of apartment 2J, where they could hear odd noises from what was obviously the living room. "I want you to act casual. If you want this plan to really work, we have to be as normal and quiet about this as possible. Do not act or talk like a robot. Got it?"

Kendall snorted. "Got it, boss."

And with that, Logan's hand touched the doorknob and they settled inside. "Hey, guys," he said, waving as he made his way to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

Kendall remained in his entrance position, body upright and taut. Remembering what Logan had told him, he relaxed a bit and muttered a 'hey' at which James and Carlos responded with incomprehensible mumbles. Clearing his throat, he sat on one of the dining table's chairs, and at the same time Logan returned with a water bottle, joining him as he took a swig of water. James and Carlos were currently setting up a game console. Narrowing his eyes, Kendall began observing peculiar things between the brunette and raven. Whenever James would accidentally touch Carlos' hand, Carlos would bite his lip and look up at the taller boy, then quickly glance back at the wires. And when Carlos flung a wire in the air and hit James' hair by mistake, the brunette didn't even throw a tantrum; he just blushed and smiled as if it was not a big deal.

Kendall suddenly had the urge to intervene. "I heard weird noises a few minutes ago. Before Logan and I came in. Do you guys know what was that about?"

Logan was halfway done with his water bottle when he ceased gulping to stare at Kendall. If it was a troubled look or a 'what did you say' look, the blonde didn't care. He just shot his friend a lightning-fast smile before he bounced his gaze back to the pair.

"Um…" Carlos tried to answer, but his strawberry-red face prevented him from saying any real words.

"Did you hear anything, James?" inquired Kendall.

"N-no," said James defensively, shaking his head.

"Oh… Well, Logan and I gotta do homework now."

Before the pale boy could drink the last droplets of cold water, Kendall yanked on Logan's arm, causing for the water bottle to fall on the floor, and dragged him into their shared room. He was about to speak, when he noticed his mom on Logan's bed, sleeping. Then he saw a basket of clothes by his bed and a clean-looking T-shirt on the floor. Logan must have noticed, too, because he snickered.

"She must've been so tired," he said. Then he turned his attention to Kendall. "So why did you bring me here?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

It took the blonde three more seconds to snap out of it. And when he did, he shook his head, blinked once, and resumed his scowl. "Did you see what happened?"

"What?" questioned Logan, raising his eyebrow higher.

"Carlos! And James! They were… I don't know, 'acting out of the ordinary'."

"They seemed pretty normal to me," said Logan, dropping his eyebrow. "What'd you notice?"

Kendall facepalmed. "Of course, you had to be so entranced by your water at the time. Anyway—if you were paying some attention—I'd asked Carlos and James some questions. Remember those weird noises we heard when we were in the hallway? It was about that, and when they answered, they acted all defensive."

"What are you trying to say?"

"That, somehow, I think they were involved with those noises. And they sure as heck had been careful to be not too loud since my mom was just next door. Too bad we heard 'em."

"Do you think it was something bad?"

Hearing those words, a mischievous grin suddenly settled on Kendall's lips. "Bad enough to be in our video?"

Saturday morning came. Everyone was asleep. Except for Kendall. He was making his way towards his little sister's room, opening the door quietly. He thought he was being smooth, but Katie's 'What's up' made him drop his act and slump his shoulders when he came in. He closed the door behind him, finding the girl sitting Indian style on her bed, papers sprawled all over the bed. They were all filled with pictures that Kendall couldn't quite make out. She quickly grabbed all the papers and settled them back on the bed in a neat stack, blank side facing up.

"What's that?" asked Kendall, curious.

"Nothing you should be concerned about. Just stuff." She smiled innocently. "Whaddaya want?"

Kendall hesitated for a second. "Do you have a spy camera?"

"A spy camera?" repeated Katie, confusion in her voice.

"You know," said Kendall. "The kind on hats or something; the ones no one can see. The really tiny ones?"

Katie was staring at him as if he'd just tattooed his whole face. Then she cleared her throat. "Okay. I get what you're talking about."

"Does that mean you have one?" asked Kendall hopefully.

Katie scrambled out of her bed and opened the third drawer of her dresser. Shoving her hand in, she took out a pink hat a second later that was stained with pink, glittery blotches, and huge green and purple rhinestones. In the middle, there was a black dot that could easily pass as a dull rhinestone when seen at a far-away distance. If close enough, it could be recognized as something suspicious. And if eyes were pressed up against it, one would immediately know it was a miniature camera rimmed with silver and gold glitter. Upon analyzing all its colours and features, Kendall blinked repeatedly, confounded.

"You… You're kidding me, right?" he said in a tiny voice.

"Nope. It cost two-hundred."

"Where did you get that kind of money?"

Katie grinned, shoving the hat in her brother's hands. "It has a built-in mic. The smallest green rhinestone is the record button. Give it back when you're done with it, 'kay?"

Almost hesitant, Kendall nodded. "Okay. Thanks." He turned around, then stopped abruptly, the urge to ask his baby sister what were those papers pounding in his head, but he dismissed it as something unimportant to him. It was probably homework. He mumbled another 'Thanks', and disappeared out of the room. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, he made his way to the kitchen. He turned on the light, and began studying the hat, staring at its girly designs. Now taking a second look at it, he saw that there were swirly patterns on the topside of its visor, their pink colour a bit darker than the hat's.

Kendall thought how he'd look with the hat on. Masculine? Maybe Jo will think it's cute. Or maybe not. He considered the idea of Logan having to wear it, and he will be the one to ask the questions. Thinking all this through, Kendall decided on wearing the hat. Besides, it was the easiest part of the whole project, since asking the questions would be kind of uncomfortable for him, and he could burst out at any moment, tipping their secret off. Kendall sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Midmorning arrived slowly.

They were settled at the dining table, each with their different bowls of cereal. Kendall was chewing silently, whereas Carlos was hurriedly munching away his milk-soaked cereal. James had his elbow propped on the table, chin on hand, stirring his cereal with no intention of swallowing even a single spoonful. Already knowing about the pink hat—since Kendall had told him about it right when he woke up—Logan was comfortable with Kendall's lack of talking. In effect, he paid more attention to the other two. He now understood what Kendall had talked about yesterday, about them acting out of the ordinary. Carlos was bubblier than ever, but James had seemed to change completely; he looked absolutely fatigued. Logan's thoughts were broken when Mrs. Knight spoke up.

"Have you boys seen Katie? I haven't seen her all morning." They all shook their head 'no'. Mrs. Knight let out a worried sigh. "I'm going to go look for her." Before she exited, she added quickly, "Stay out of trouble," and she left with an uneasy expression and all.

After breakfast, Kendall retrieved the pink hat from his room and settled with Logan in the kitchen. Carlos and James had seemed to disappear into thin air.

"So, what's wrong with you?" asked Kendall, noticing Logan's wary but somewhat puzzled expression.

"To put it in simple terms," said Logan, "First, I understand fully what you were talking about yesterday—what with their erratic behaviour. Second…right after you went to sleep yesterday, I started hearing noises. Soft slams into the wall, rickety noises and heavy breathing…" He gave Kendall an anxious look. "You don't think…" He trailed off, letting Kendall's imagination take over.

The blonde scowled. "Um…you mean, like, doing it? James and Carlos?" Logan nodded. Kendall fiddled with the hat nervously. "I dunno."

It was silent for a long time.

Then, Logan spoke up, "Never mind. I think it was just my ears playing tricks on me. They were probably noises from outside." Kendall nodded wearily at that.

Another minute of silence.

"So, uh… We're on the same page, right? I wear the hat—no matter how stupid it looks on me," mumbled Kendall. "And you," he pointed his index finger at Logan, "get to do the incognito questioning."

"So…we're all set?" asked the brunette.

"All set," answered Kendall, tapping the hat as Carlos would do with his helmet.

They treaded out of the apartment, beginning their search for the brunette and raven. They figured it would be an easy task finding them, knowing they might be at the pool area, but their inference was wrong. Kendall and Logan stood there, eyes grazing all the people and items, but they didn't find their desired targets. Puzzled, they thought of other places the pair might be in. Starting to look out of the Palm Woods zone, some people gave the blonde looks, mainly because of the pink hat he was wearing. But Kendall ignored every one of those, walking with an erect back and a façade stuck to his face. Before they left, he had taken one last look in the mirror and, for a fleeting moment, thought that it quite suited him. Consequently, he permanently etched that thought into his mind and left along with it.

"Where do you think they are?" asked Kendall, tipping the hat down.

Logan shrugged as he looked into the fifth store window. "I don't know. We've looked at the pool, the park, and they probably won't be in any of these stores…" He sighed. "Maybe we should reconsider on whom to interview."

"No," said Kendall. "Come on, Logan, this could be a great opportunity to discover something big. We already have an idea that James and Carlos might be hiding something—together. So we can't give up right now. Let's keep looking for 'em until we find 'em. Alright?"

The pale boy gave him an unenthusiastic expression. "Alright. But if one hour passes and we haven't found them, we're doing something else."

Kendall grinned as if he hadn't heard Logan's warning. "You know, I have a feeling that their disappearance has something to do with their little secret."

A/N: Obviously, some of you know where this is going… That's why it's rated M, haha.