Chapter One
Vanessa's P.O.V
Saturday
"Are we going to tell them?"
"How would we? And when?" my twin brother, Javi, asked. "It's not like we could call them right now, we're on a plane."
"Javi has a point about trying to call them right now, but what about when we land?" Shane asked, turning around in his seat.
"That's my point. Do we not tell them at all, or do we stop by their apartment?"
"I'm not sure about stopping by their apartment is a good idea," my boyfriend, Kolton, said as he came back from the bathroom. "I haven't really talked to them that much since I got sent to The Academy."
"So going to their apartment is out of the picture, but what about calling them?" Eva asked as she put her fashion magazine away.
"What about if we just wait? Dimitri doesn't even know how long we are going to be here. We could be back home in a few weeks. Why should we tell them if that we're here if we're not going to be staying?"
"That could work, but if they find out about us in a week, I'm telling them that it was you're idea not to tell them." I said, pointing at Shane.
He shrugged, "That's okay with me, I'm older than all of them so they can't do anything about it."
I nodded and he turned back around in his seat. Eve went back to her magazine and Javi started listening to his iPod. Kolton was staring past me, out the window at the clouds. I took his hand and he looked at me, "What's wrong?"
"Do you think this is a good idea?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you think that going to LA to record and be famous is a good idea?"
"Why wouldn't it be? Our brothers did it."
"Yeah, and look at them. They've pretty much forgotten about us. They only call us like once a month and when they do, it's only for like ten minutes."
"We're not like that, V. We won't forget about who we were or where we came from. We all promised that before we left, remember?"
"But promises get broken."
"This one won't, I'll make sure of it, okay?"
I nodded and sighed, "Okay."
Kolton smiled and kissed my cheek, "Why don't you try to get some sleep? We still have a while until we land."
"What if I'm not tired?"
"I know you didn't sleep well Last night. You never do when you have something exciting happening the next day."
"Fine." I said as I rolled my eyes and laid my head against his shoulder. The thumb of his hand that I was holding stroked my knuckles as he sang softly into my ear. Kolton may have a bad boy exterior, but he was really sweet when he wanted to be. Closing my eyes, I let Kolton's voice lull me to sleep.
I jerked awake as the plane's wheels touched down on the runway. Kolton laughed at my freaked out face and I smacked him. As he plane taxied towards the gate, we all got our backpacks ready. All of our luggage had already been sent over a few days ago and was waiting for us in our apartment. We just needed to find out producer in the crowd of people that were waiting for their friends and family.
We all grabbed out backpacks and waited as the people in front of us got off the plane. Soon enough, we were all walking together towards the baggage claim area. Kolton was holding my hand as we walked through the airport. It wasn't until we were already in the baggage claim area that I noticed all the looks we were getting from the people we passed. I couldn't tell Kolton what I was thinking at that moment because Dimitri had found us. "There you guys are! Come on, this way. I want to get you guy settled into your new home." He said, leading us towards the doors.
It wasn't until we had made it into the large SUV and where on the way to the apartment that I was able to talk to the others. Dimitri was driving and listening to music as I wasn't worried about him overhearing us. "Hey, guys, we need to talk about something."
Shane, Javi, and Eve turned around in their seats to look at me, "What?'
I looked at my boyfriend, "Kolton looks too much like Kendall."
"How do I look too much like Kendall?"
"You're twins, if he cuts his hair and wore darker clothes, you'd be identical."
"She's right," Shane said, "before you cut your hair, your clothes were the only thing that we could use to tell you two apart."
"And I think I saw some people with their phones out, possibly taking pictures, when we were in the airport."
Kolton groaned and put his head in his hands, "What are we going to do now? If they see those pictures, they'll definitely know that we're here."
"We just need to hope that none of those pictures turn out." Eve replied. "Besides, LA is a big city, chances are, we're never going to see them in person."
"Guys, welcome to the Palmwoods."Dimitri said, stopping the SUV in front of the hotel.
"I think we might be seeing them sooner than we want." Javi said, earning glares from the rest of us.
"What do we do now?" I asked with dread.
"Everyone has a sweatshirt in their backpack, right?" Shane asked. We nodded and he continued, "Why don't we put them on and put the hoods up? That way they won't see our faces if they're in the lobby."
"This is why you're the smart one." Eve commented as we all did what Shane had suggested.
Dimitri gave us a weird look as we got out of the SUV but we ignored it. Once we were all out, he led us inside and towards the front desk. The man behind the desk was overweight and looked to be in his thirties. "Can I help you?"
"My name is Dimitri Glass and I paid for an apartment for the band, Disturbia."
"Right, here are your keys. It's apartment 4K."
Dimitri took the keys, "Thanks."
"Have a Palmwoods day," the man said sarcastically.
Dimitri nodded and turned away from him, giving each of us a key. "You guys can head on up your own. All of your things should be in the living room waiting for you. There are three bedrooms so you guys will have to figure out who is rooming with who. No coed rooms, your parents' one rule. Today and tomorrow are for settling in. Call me if you need anything, if not, I'll see you guys on Monday."
"Okay, thanks for bringing us here." I replied.
"Hey, are you picking us up on Monday?" Javi asked.
"Yeah, I'll be at your apartment at 7:00 am." He said over his shoulder as he walked out the front doors.
"Well, this is it. Let's get up to our new apartment and start our new lives." Kolton said, holding up his keys before pulling me towards the elevator. The others followed and we waited for the elevator to get there. The doors opened and we were about to step in when a girl around our age jumped out at Shane. Slapping his face, she screamed, 'How could you!" then she broke down in sobs and walked around us, heading into the lobby. Shane was rubbing his cheek as we got into the elevator. "What was that for? We don't even know her!"
"Maybe she was an actress that was preparing for a roll." Eve replied with a laugh.
Shane glared at her but didn't respond. Kolton had pressed the button for the fourth floor and we were on our way up. When the doors opened, we piled out and headed down the hallway to where a sign said 4K was located. We didn't run into anyone so we didn't have to answer any questions about who we were, why we were here, or what we were doing. Reaching the door to our new temporary home, Kolton opened the door and went it, the rest of us following him. We were surprised at what we saw. Our apartment was exactly what a teenager would want to live in. it was nothing like what our brothers said their apartment looked like when they first got to LA. "I thought the apartments didn't come like this," Javi said, eying the swirly slide.
"I didn't think they did. The guys said their apartment was nasty when they first moved in." Eve replied, heading towards the kitchen.
As Even went through everything in the kitchen, Javi went upstairs so that he could go down the swirly slide and Shane started up the Xbox so he could get his videogame fix. Kolton came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. We shared a quick kiss before I laid my head on his chest and he laid his head on top of mine. "How do you like LA so far?" he mumbled into my hair.
"It's okay, I guess. Keeping this from the guys is going to be even harder now that we live two floors above them."
"We made it this far, we can make it a little bit farther. Besides, we're both going to be in the studios most of the tome, right? We probably won't ever have the same day off."
"True," my phone went off and we pulled away from each other. Kolton took my hand and led me to the couch as I took my phone out of my pocket with the other one. It was Carlos calling, "Hey bro."
"I could hear him laugh through the phone, "Hey, sis. What's up?"
"Not much. Just hanging out with everyone." I said, glancing at Kolton. Not many people knew that Kolton had gotten out of the Academy.
"Tell everyone I said hi!"
I laughed as I pulled my phone away from my mouth, "Carlos says hi!" Everyone gave either a hi or hey back. "They say hey and hi." I told Carlos.
"Sweet. What are you doing tomorrow? Anything fun?"
"Not really, just chilling out home, what about you?"
"The guys and I have the day off tomorrow so we're probably just going to hang out around the Palmwoods."
"Nice."
"Yeah. Hey, the guys want to know if you and the others want to Skype tomorrow."
"That should be fine, as long as you text beforehand saying you're ready."
"Okay, talk to you tomorrow."
"Okay, see you tomorrow." When I hung up, everyone turned towards me.
"What did he say?" Javi asked.
"They have the day off tomorrow and want to Skype with us."
"They have the day off tomorrow? We're going to have to stay inside all day!" Eve groaned.
"What about me? They don't even know I'm out of the Academy. What am I supposed to do when they want to Skype tomorrow?' Kolton asked.
We were all silent for a moment. None of us had thought about that. In the month that Kolton had been out of the Academy, he had been staying with Shane. None of our parents had really been in touch with the guys since they came out here so the news had never reached them. "Maybe you should call them right now? You have to tell them at some point and it should be before they find out about the band." I said, squeezing his hand.
"We can leave the room if you want." Shane said, looking at Eve and Javi.
"Yeah, we can go set up our rooms or something." Eve said.
"Thanks, guys. I'll call them right now I guess."Kolton said, looking at me.
The others nodded before grabbing their luggage and heading off to find the rooms and figure out who was staying where. Kolton took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he took his phone out of his pocket. I rubbed my thumb over his knuckles as he dialed the phone and held it up to his ear.
Kolton's P.O.V
I tensed as the phone started ringing. No one answered until the fourth ring. "Hello?"
"Hey."
"Who is this?"
"You don't recognize your own brother, Ken? I'm hurt." I joked, trying to loosen up a little bit.
"Kolton? Is that really you?"
"Yeah, it's really me."
"I thought you couldn't call from the Academy?"
"I couldn't, but I'm not at the Academy and more."
"What do you mean?"
"I've been out for the last month."
There was a pause, "How?'
"They said I was better, and I am. I didn't want to call you before incase I had to go back, but I didn't. I'm okay now."
"Who all know?"
"Vanessa, Javi, Eve, Shane and their parents. I've been staying with Shane. They didn't tell you because I asked them not to."
"Do you want to talk to mom or Katie?"
"I'm not sure that's a good idea. Mom sent me to the Academy for a reason, Ken. She wasn't very happy with what I was doing to our family after dad died."
He sighed, "Mom was just upset, she didn't mean what she said before she sent you to the Academy."
"It felt like she did."
"Okay, I won't tell mom or Katie, but can I tell the other guys?"
"Yeah, I want to Skype with everyone tomorrow," I said with a smile.
"Sweet. Hey, I have to go, we're at the studio right now."
"Okay."
"It was great hearing from you, K. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye." Hanging up, I looked at Vanessa, "I did it."
She smiled, "And you did a great job, too."
Without saying anything, I brought Vanessa in a hug and held her. "I don't want to go back to what I was before the Academy." I mumbled into her hair.
She pulled back and put her forehead on mine, looking into my eyes. "You won't. You have me, Javi, Eve and Shane, plus our brothers, to help you whenever things get tough. We will make sure that you don't go back to that."
"Thank you," I whispered.
I had gone off the deep end when my dad had died. I started vandalizing and stealing, and when that didn't help, I started hurting myself. I would sometime slit my wrists, somehow thinking that it would help. No one knew what I was doing for the longest time, they only saw me wearing darker clothes, saw me grieving. It was only when the cops brought me home at midnight that my mom found out. Kendall had tried to stick by my side but mom wouldn't have it. A month later, she sent me to the Academy. The Academy me was a place where troubled teens could get helped. If there were any troubled teens within twenty miles of the Academy, they would probably end up in there at some point. I was a special case because I stole and slit my wrists. There were different wings of the Academy for different types of kids, none of which I seemed to fit in. because of being isolated in the academy, I wasn't in the best shape when I got out. I would have had to go back if it wasn't for Vanessa, Javi, Shane and Eve.
"What are you thinking about?" Vanessa asked, pulling away.
"The Academy."
"Please don't think about that place anymore. You're never going to go back there."
"Okay, but I need something to distract me then." I replied with a smirk as I leaned towards her.
"Not until you unpack and get settled in." she replied, getting up and walking away.
"Are you serious?" I groaned, doing a face plant into the couch.
Vanessa's P.O.V
Sunday
"Hey, you guys ready to Skype with the guys?" I asked, looking up from my phone as I walked into the living room.
"Sure, where should we set the laptop up at?" Shane asked, pausing his game on the Xbox.
"How about we put it on the coffee table, that way we can sit on and stand behind the couch."
"Okay. You can set it up; I'm going to go to the bathroom."
"And I'm getting a drink." Javi said.
"Okay. Eve, Kolton, are you ready?" I yelled.
"Almost!" Eve replied.
"I'm gonna get a snack first." Kolton said from behind me.
I nodded and set the laptop up. I was already logged onto Skype, I was just waiting for Carlos to get on. Just as I was about to text him, Carlos' invite popped up. I accepted and the guys' faces showed up. "Hey, guys."
"Hey, sis, where is everyone?"
"Getting drinks, snacks, or going to the bathroom."
"I'm here now though," Shane said, sitting down. Eve and Javi were right behind him.
I saw Kendall looking around us as the others said hi to their siblings. James must have noticed Kendall, too. "You okay, Kendall?"
"Where is he?" Kendall asked, looking right at me.
"Did you tell them?" Shane asked.
"Tell us what? What's going on?' Logan asked.
"Do you guys remember Kolton, my twin brother?" Kendall started. When the others nodded he continued. "Well, he's been in the Academy for awhile but he's out now."
"Why was he in the Academy?" Carlos asked.
"He had a hard time after dad died. He stole, vandalized and started cutting his wrists. We didn't find out about what he was doing for a few months. When we did find out, mom went kind of nuts, saying things that she shouldn't have and then she sent him off. The Academy doesn't let those inside have any contact with family and friends on the outside. And from what I gathered when he called me last night, he's been out for a month, he's better, and he's been staying with Shane and Logan's parents. He made sure no one told us because he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to stay out. Kendall explained.
No one said anything for awhile and Kolton, who was standing behind the laptop, was starting to look nervous. "So, where is he?" Kendall asked.
Kolton took a deep breath before coming over and sitting down next to me. "Hey, bro."
Kendall smiled, "It's nice to see you, K."
"It's nice to be back. Mom and Katie aren't around, are they?"
"No, they had a girl's night out"
"Cool, so what's going on with you guys?"
"We have the week off because Gustavo's on vacation." James said.
"Nice. Any concerts anytime soon?" Eve asked.
"Not that we know of. We're just working on our next album." Logan replied.
"Have you guys been in any trouble lately?" Javi asked.
"Surprisingly, no, Gustavo's been in a good mood lately. And it's kind of scary." Carlos commented.
"That's cool."
"Yeah, you guys should fly out here sometime. We need to hang out." Kendall said.
"We'll try to talk out parents into it but we can't promise anything." Shane said.
James was about to say something when we heard a door open behind them. They all turned around and we could hear Kendall say, "Mom? I thought you and Katie were going to be gone all day."
"Katie was trying to get money off the people at the mall. She kept telling them that she was a starving child." Mts. Knight replied.
Kolton hurried off the couch as they came into view of the laptop. We could hear Katie saying something under her breath before she noticed the laptop. "Who are you guys talking to?"
Kendall turned around and visibly relaxed when he saw that Kolton was gone. "Vanessa, Javi, Eve and Shane."
"Hi, guys." Mrs. Knight said, waving at us.
"Hi, Mrs. Knight." We all replied.
"And I'm sorry to say this, but Big Time Rush needs to clean up the apartment."
The guys groaned and we laughed. "Bye, guys." I said.
"Bye." They all replied.
We logged off and I shut the laptop. Kolton was sitting on the floor behind the table, his head in his hands. The other looked at me before leaving the room. They all knew that he had a hard time loving and trusting his mom because of what she had said to him before she sent him to the Academy. Getting up, I kneeled in front of him, lifting his head with my hand, "Talk to me."
"Will I ever be able to talk to her again?"
"I'm sure you will. It'll just take some time."
"How much time?"
"I don't know, but I do know that she didn't mean what she said. She was just upset."
"You didn't see the look in her eyes, it was so hard not to believe her." He said, eyes filled with sadness as he remembered that day.
"Hey, just take a deep breath and forget about the past. Let's just focus on now, okay?"
He took a deep breath and nodded, "Okay."
"How about we watch a movie and eat some popcorn."
He smirked, "Can we cuddle?"
"Yes, pick out a movie and I'll make the popcorn."
"Sweet," Kolton said, getting up.
I smiled as I watched him for a moment. There were times when it took a lot more than a movie and cuddling to get him back to being happy. We always tried to keep the topic of his mom from being brought up but it didn't always work. He had changed a lot since going to the Academy, and some days, I wondered what had happened to him while he was there.
Vanessa's P.O.V
Monday
"Dimitri's here!" I yelled as I got his text.
"How are we going to get down to the lobby without being seen by the guys?" Kolton asked as he kissed me on the cheek.
"That I don't know. It's too hot to wear our sweatshirts down there. Do you think they are even up yet?"
"I doubt it, they're always sleeping in, and James always wants to get his beauty sleep." Eve said as she came downstairs.
"We might be able to get downstairs and into the car without them even getting out of bed." Shane commented as he pulled on his shoes.
"Call Carlos, if he doesn't answer, then we're probably good because they're still sleeping." Javi said.
"Are you really my brother? You actually made sense for once." I joked.
He glared at me, "I have my moments."
Everyone laughed as I dialed Carlos' number. It kept ringing and ringing before finally going to voicemail. I hung up, "They're still sleeping."
"Let's go then," Kolton said, grabbing my hand. We all filed out of the apartment, locking the door behind us. Thankfully, not that many people were awake and those that were, were bust going to work and we weren't stopped. Dimitri was waiting outside with a van and we quickly piled in. no sooner where we in when Dimitri put the van in drive and hit the gas. In no time at all, we were at the studio.
Dimitri gave us a quick tour before leading us into his office. "Before we start recording today, I wanted to talk to you guys about something." He said as he sat behind his desk.
"And what's that?" Shane asked as we all sat down across from Dimitri.
"The Battle of the Bands. I signed you guys up as one of the two main competitors."
"Cool, but what's the point of it?" I asked.
"Publicity. It'll get your music out there so people can hear it. The Battle takes place over a week, starting on a Sunday and ending on a Saturday. You and the other competitor will be staying in a mansion that the guy that runs the Battle owns. You have to do numerous performances, live, each day, along with interviews. Every moment of your lives will be filmed that week because those watching get to decide which band wins."
"Cool, when is it?" Eve asked.
"Six weeks."
"That soon?"
"Yup, we're going to need to work hard these next six weeks because I'm not going to see you guys that much the week of the Battle."
"Okay, so let's get started." Kolton said, standing up.
"Don't you want to know who you're going to be competing against?"
Kolton rolled his eyes as I asked, "Who?"
Dimitri smiled before turning the computer screen around so that we could see what was on it. All of our eyes widened when we saw a picture of our brothers staring at us. "Big Time Rush?" Kolton asked, sounding strained.
"Yup, and you will beat them. If you don't, then you guys go back to your small hometown in Minnesota."
"What happens if we beat them?"
"They go back home and can't be signed into another music label, ever."
"What?" we all shrieked.
Time Jump
"What are we supposed to do?" I asked, flopping down on the couch. "How are we going to compete against our brothers for the chance to stay in LA.?"
"What are all the rules of the Battle of the Bands? Maybe there is a way that we can both stay in LA after it." Kolton said as he sat down next to me.
"I'll check," Shane said, grabbing the laptop. After a few moments of typing and staring intently at the screen, he pulled away a little bit. "I found the site for the Battle of the Bands. It was started five years ago when a record producer signed two bands onto his record around the same time. His boss said that he could only have one band but the producer didn't know which one to keep so he started the Battle and let the fans decide. The only way that both bands could stay in LA is if one of them forfeits before the winner is called."
"And Dimitri said we couldn't forfeit for anything." Eve said.
"When are the bands announced to the public?"
Shane searched the computer, "Next week."
"That's not good." Javi commented.
"Are they going to say who is in the band or just the name of the band?"
"Just the name of the band."
"So as long as we stay off the internet and away from the press, we should be okay, right?" Kolton asked.
"Pretty much," Shane said. "Uh-oh."
"What is it?"
"They just updated the webpage."
"And?" we all asked.
"They aren't going to tell the public who is in the Battle until the first day we perform. And technically, we aren't supposed to know who we are going against." Shane said, turning the computer towards us.
Getting up, we all walked over to see the webpage. We each read the update silently, taking it all in. "So we have six weeks of hiding from our brothers ahead of us?" Javi asked, looking at everyone.
"We cannot attract any attention, of any kind. If we do, then they will find out about us and we'll be in trouble. "I said, making eye contact with everyone, "Can we do that?"
"We'll have to," Kolton said.
