Chapter 1 – Breaking the News
"Kendall, hurry up! If I'm late to another class, Rogers is gonna kill me!" a tall young man with floppy chestnut locks and a worried expression yelled from the doorway.
Dashing past the brunette, Kendall sped out the door while stuffing one last piece of paper into an already overflowing backpack. "James, I would like to point out that this is the first time all semester that I've been late," the blonde called out behind him. "Also, how do you manage to be late to your classes when we get to school at the same time? Hell, you even have a half hour longer than I do to get to class!"
James avoided verbally answering the question, instead giving his friend a pointed glare. Kendall knew that James wasn't exactly the most punctual person, and when you factor in that he was very easily distracted by his girlfriend, Laura, it wasn't difficult to see how Mr. Diamond was constantly tardy.
"I know you don't get a lot of chances to see Laura during the day, but don't you think graduating is a bit more important than an early morning quickie?"
James stopped dead in his tracks. "Never, EVER, underestimate the benefits of a quick roll in the hay. It's been said to improve quality of life in several areas, including but not limited to lower blood pressure, less stress, and better hair."
"Glad to know the bulk of your education is being appropriated to the benefits of sexual intercourse," Kendall quipped as the two got into the car.
After the boys graduated high school, they decided to go on with their education without all the pressures of being Big Time Rush. They had all saved up quite a bit through the years so that they could pay for school and they felt their time as pop stars had run its course. James had decided to stay in Los Angeles for school, having fallen in love with the city as soon as he had arrived. Looking to become the next Ryan Seacrest, he went into broadcast journalism at USC. Much to everyone's surprise, Kendall stayed along with him. Though hockey had always been Kendall's passion, he had gotten behind the board with Gustavo on their last album and his dreams of playing for the Minnesota Wild were quickly replaced by his newfound love of music production. In fact, the only one of the boys that continued playing hockey was Carlos, but he found his talents being used in a quite unlikely place. Carlos had been recruited by several schools for his hockey abilities, but chose to stay close to California and attend Arizona State University. It pained him to be a Sun Devil at times, seeing as his best friends were going to a much hated Pac-12 rival school, but they always settled their friendly rivalries on the ice.
Logan also stayed on the west coast, going to Stanford as a pre-med student. He, too, had continued following his original dream, his sights set on becoming a doctor. Though he didn't have much time to do so, Logan had worked several times with Dr. Hollywood while he was still in Los Angeles, giving him an edge over his" Big Three reject" colleagues. It was a harsh moniker, but Logan lost count of all the "I applied to *insert Ivy League school here*, but they wouldn't take me" stories he'd heard by the time he'd finished his first month of school.
Yes, the boys had had their fill of the limelight, but the rest of the Palm Woods crew thought otherwise. Many of Big Time Rush's earliest supporters had gone on to become great stars in their own right. The Jennifers booked a string of successful movie musicals as background dancers and singers, landing each of them on Broadway. Guitar Dude had found work as a songwriter at Rocque Records after Gustavo and Kelly had their second child. Gustavo, of course, was quite reluctant at first, but his lovely assistant/wife knew best (and even if she didn't, it was in his best interest to just go with whatever she said). Jo eventually returned from New Zealand, now a bigger star than ever. While she and Kendall never did get back together, she continues to meet up with the guys as often as she can. The only one that fell off the radar was Camille. No one really knew exactly what happened. Well, no one except James. On the boys' last day at the Palm Woods, the two got into a huge argument and after that, no one really heard much from her. Kendall had done some digging a few years back and found her still in LA doing some regional theater work. He went and saw her perform, and though she wasn't happy, she was nice enough to say hi to him afterwards. Camille asked him not to look for her again, but this couldn't dissuade Kendall. Periodically, he would try to look her up, but she was nowhere to be found. That was, until last night.
Kendall made his way on to the freeway, rushing into the carpool lane in hopes of making his trip to school quicker. With the conversation he was about to initiate, Kendall definitely wanted to hasten the drive. "So, James. You know that thing that we don't talk about?"
"What thing?" James replied warily.
"You know…the Camille thing?"
"You're not seriously bringing that up right now."
"Yes, I am! It's important, okay. You know I wouldn't talk about it if it wasn't. Besides, it's been almost four years. Don't you think by now you should be able to tell me what happened?"
"I could tell you, but that would mean I want to talk about it, and I don't. You know this."
"But I think it's really important that we talk about it now."
"Kendall, what difference does it make? It's not like I'm gonna see her again."
The blonde squeaked. "Actually…"
"NO. OH no no no-no-no. Kendall Donald Knight, you tell me what the hell is going on, and you tell me NOW."
"Okay, mom! Jeez. Look, long story short, Camille's coming to stay with us."
James' eyes widened in fear as his hands crashed upon the dashboard. "WHY. DEAR LORD, WHY."
"James, she's in trouble. She didn't tell me everything, but she's in a really bad place right now. No place to go, no job, nothing."
"How'd you even find out?"
"At the end of freshman year, I went and looked for her. She was in a play nearby and I went to see her. She wasn't happy, but we talked for a bit. I gave her my number just in case she ever wanted to keep in touch. I was hoping the next time we met it would be under better circumstances, but…"
"Dammit, Kendall. It's just not enough for you to let things be, is it?" James hung his head, obviously more upset at himself than his driver. The brunette seethed for a while, then sighed. "How was she? When you saw her last?"
"Well, she seemed alright. She had a steady job, she was acting, which you know she loves. I don't know what went wrong, really. I mean, she could have been saving face back then, but a lot can happen in a few years."
The rest of their drive was quiet, but Kendall could sense how troubled James was. He wished there was a better time or place to talk to James about all this, but given that Camille was supposed to be at their place when they got back from class, Kendall had to break it to him, sooner rather than later.
"Hey, James?" Kendall said as they got out of the car. "Sorry about all of this. I know it's a mess. Wanna talk about it some more over lunch?"
"I'll think about it," said James as he sloughed off to class.