Wazzaaa? If you couldn't already tell, this is my new fic and it is a Wizard of Oz spinoff with big time rush in it! Wooo.
This won't be exactly like the movie or the musical, I'll shake it up a bit. Because really, if I didn't this would be pretty boring.
I decided to do this now because I was in the Wizard of Oz at school just a couple of months ago, and so why not do this while it's all still fresh in my mind.
Well, without further ado, enjoy!
The Wizard of Rush
Chapter One: Somewhere Over The Rainbow
"Oh my, that sure was close! She almost got you, didn't she, Tori? Well, it's ok, I have you now at least." A boy spoke. He was sixteen with long brown hair and was six foot one. He had warm brown eyes and a passionate soul that wouldn't give up unti. he achieved his dreams.
His name was James Diamond, and he was the next big thing. Minnesota was where he was born and raised, and also where he lived now. At age 8, his father left him, leaving his single mother to raise him all by herself, and frankly, she didn't do a very good job of it.
You see, she was what some called the, "Estée Lauder of the midwest." In other words, she was the owner of a powerful cosmetics corporation, and seeing how it was her dream, she didn't ever have much time for her son outside of work.
Why, just an hour ago James had seen his mom, but they hadn't ended on the best terms; his mom had harshly told James that his dreams were a mistake and that he should work for her at her cosmetics company.
When James refused, she tried to confiscate the heart of his dreams: His small songbook in which he wrote the various lyrics and songs that popped into his head. He nicknamed this book "Tori" when he was just a young boy. It was what gave him hope for a better future and he went everywhere with it, careful not to let it out of his sight.
So he grabbed the book from his mom and ran all the way to his friend Kendall's house. That house was always a safe haven because Kendall's mom, Jennifer, had been like the one James never had: Kind, caring, and always there for him.
Kendall and James had been friends ever since elementary school, when they had been in Pee Wee Hockey together. Ever since then, the two had been inseperable, along with their other two best friends, Logan Mitchell and Carlos Garcia.
James stepped up onto Kendall and Jennifer Knight's porch and rang the doorbell. He was out of breath and sweaty due to the long run, causing him to slouch over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
A few moments later Mrs. Knight arrived at the front door and invited James in. He stepped into the Knight's small but cozy home, sighing with relief because he was safe now.
Mrs. Knight closed the door and walked into the kitchen while James took in his surroundings:
Sitting on the couch playing video games was Carlos. The tan latino boy had his tongue stuck out in concentration and it looked a little like he was sweating. Carlos was the hyper, airheaded type of guy, and that's exactly why James, Kendall, and Logan hung out with him, because he was just fun.
Meanwhile, visible to James in the dining room was Logan doing his homework, as usual. Logan was the brainy nerd of the group, and although the constant facts that he spouted could get annoying, they loved him nonetheless.
James snapped out of his trance and went to the kitchen, where Mrs. Knight was cooking dinner with her daughter Katie. Katie was a tough-as-nails, independent 10 year old girl who was smarter than you'd think. James had gotten in her way once, and, needless to say, he regretted it.
James took a seat on a barstool at the counter and sighed. "You'll never believe what my mom did to me today, Mama Knight." he said.
Mama Knight didn't reply, however, because she was busy cracking eggs into a bowl and counting them. "Four..five...six.."
Since she hadn't responded, James continued, "She, she tried to take Tori away from me! She said my dreams were dumb and that I should work for her!" James complained.
Mama Knight sighed and looked at James. "James, can't you see we're busy here? You made me lose count!" she chastised. "One, two, three," she counted, sorting through the yolks in the bowl.
"But, Mama Knight, she said..." James protested.
"James, not now! Now go play or something." she replied firmly.
"Fine..." James sighed. He got up off of his barstool and went to talk to Logan in the dining room.
"Hey Logan." James said. He took a seat at the dining room near his friend.
"Hey, James..." Logan mumbled; he was absorbed in his homework, as usual.
"How's the homework going?" James asked.
"Fine, I guess." Logan said.
James chuckled and asked, "Why the, 'I guess?'"
Frustrated, Logan put down his pencil and crossed his arms. "Because I don't understand any of it!" he complained.
"But you're Logan! You always understand it," James mentioned.
"Yeah, well, I don't right now." he replied.
"Well...is it anything I can help with?" James asked.
"You?" Logan said coldly.
"Whatever. I was just trying to help." James said.
"No, I'm sorry, it's just...I usually get this stuff, you know? I'm just frustrated, is all."
"It's fine, I get it."
"So, what's up with you?"
Sighing, James answered, "So much. My mom is being dumb, as usual. She tried to take Tori away from me!"
"Not Tori!" Logan said sarcastically.
"Yes, Tori. Can you believe her?" James said, not noticing Logan's sarcasm. "And she told me my dreams are stupid. She wants me to work with her at her lame cosmetics company."
"Well, James, I wouldn't cross her. You're just going to end up getting in trouble."
"I know..."
The two sat for a while before Mama Knight called from the kitchen, "Logan, I don't here you working in there! I'm not feeding you dinner tonight just to sit around!"
"I asked Mama Knight to keep me on track." Logan said when he saw James's confused face. "I probably should get back to this homework...why don't you go play with Carlos for a bit?"
"Alright." James said as he stood. He made his way to the family room and plopped down on the couch next to Carlos.
"Hey, James." Carlos mumbled. His eyebrows were furrowed and he was staring so hard at the TV his face was turning red.
"Hey, 'litos. Um you might want to loosen up a bit there. You'll pass out." James said.
"Meh.."
"So...what game are you playing?"
"It's Katie's. It's called Castle Smashers: Deluxe Edition. It's the first game for a console." Carlos said, not even sparing a glance towards James.
"You-you're pretty concentrated there, huh?"
"Yeah, well, I'm at the boss level. There's this giant dragon guarding this castle which holds the ultimate treasure..."
"Oh, cool." James said nonchalantly. "Hey, um, can I talk to you about something serious?"
"Of course James, what's wrong?" James waited for a moment, expecting Carlos to put down the video game; he didn't.
"Well...it's my mom. She, she doesn't understand me, or my dreams, and...well, today, she tried to take Tori away..."
"Your songbook?"
"Yeah. And she's always trying to get me to work with her at her business! I hate it. What should I do?"
"See, James, that is the problem right there. You hate it, when you should keep an open mind. It may seem like your mom doesn't love you, but she does; she just shows it in a different way. And you not wamting to work with her, it's probably breaking her heart."
"Wow, Carlos, I'd never have expected you to be that...insightful."
"Hey! Just because I'm not good at like, math and school stuff, doesn't mean I'm stupid!"
"Trust me, I know. I'm pretty dumb when it comes to the books too, but I'm street smart." James remarked. "So, how does one kill a dragon and smash a castle to achieve the ultimate treasure?"
"Well, it's not easy. It helps to have really powerful bombs, but you have to have some strategy to." Carlos narrated as he played out his advice. "For the dragon, you have to weaken him up a bit first. You know, hit him with a few medium strength projectiles. Then, you have to distract him somehow; anything works, really, but I'm using a flash grenade. Finally you just have to...climb up inside him...and...just as you reach his heart...you...stab it!" he explained, breathing harshly. Loud roars came from the game and then he continued, "Then, for the castle, since it's the ladt level, you bomb it with everything you have. You have to be relentless. And when they surrender, you walk in...approach the royal chest and..." He was cut off by a large screeching noise from the game. "Oh crap!" he said as he started violently mashing buttons.
"What's wrong?" James asked curiously.
"There's...a...demon...that...was...guarding...the...treasure...and..." he said. The screen flashed game over as his character screamed and he threw his controller down next to him angrily. "Thanks, a lot James, you made me lose!" he said angrily.
"What! How is that my fault?"
Carlos restarted the level and didn't respond.
Conveniently the doorbell rang and James sprung up, announcing he would answer it.
When he opened the door he found Camille waiting patiently. "Oh, hey Camille!" James said.
Camille was the Knight's next door neighbor and a pretty good friend of James, Carlos, Kendall, and Logan. She was a very passionate person both personality wise and in her goals. You see, she, much like James, also wanted to be a star; only her passion was in acting.
For as long as James had known Camille, she had been pretending to be different characters. Her method acting was what everyone knew her for, and even though it did get weird or annoying sometimes, she had a certain...charm that kept everyone around her.
Logan, especially. Although he would never admit it, it was no secret that Logan had a huge crush on Camille; heck, Camille herself probably even knew. Everytime she walked into a room that Logan was in, he would stop whatever he was doing and stare at her like nothing even mattered but her. It was actually kind of sweet...
"Hey, James." Camille replied. She stepped through the mantle without James asking, but he didn't protest because they were close.
"What are you doing here?" he asked nonchalantly as he closed the door.
"Oh, Mrs. Knight invited me over for dinner." she said. She went and sat on the couch next to Carlos and James proceeded to sit next to her.
A few minutes passed by in awkward silence as Carlos continued mashing buttons and Camille watched him.
"Hey Camille, can I ask you something?" James finally spoke.
"Sure." she said, turning towards him.
"If-if someone tried to tell you to...give up your acting dreams, would you?"
Carlos groaned next to Camille, mumbling, "This again?"
Camille ignored him. "Of course not! Never give up on your dreams, James."
"But, what if...what if they were someone you loved a lot? Someone that you have to see a lot? And it would hurt them if youd dint?"
"It doesn't matter. You have to be brave, James, and never, ever let someone tell you that you can't do something. Even if they are your mother. You can't put other people's happiness before yours; otherwise you will always be unhappy."
James took that in, then said, "How did you know I was talking about my mom?"
"Because I know you."
James looked into Camille's eyes for a moment and thought he felt...
Suddenly he noticed that Carlos wasn't there anymore and remarked, "Hm, Mama Knight must've called us for dinner.
Camille looked behind her then agreed. "We should probably go then."
The two got up and headed to the kitchen together silently.
Just as they turned the corner, Carlos and Logan jumped out from behindeither sides of the entryway and screamed, making Camille jump and let out a small yelp. The two started laughing hard and they high fived each other. James frowned, though.
"How could you two? Scaring poor Camille like that, you should be ashamed of yourselves!" James chastised them.
"Hey man, calm down." Logan said.
"You have to admit, that was hilarious." Carlos said between giggles.
"No it wasn't! Are you okay, Camille?" James said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Camille said. "Don't do that again!" she added, playfully hitting Carlos and Logan.
"We'll see." Carlos said.
Everyone sat at the dinner table and ate, having their usual conversations about how their day was and other mundane stuff like that. At one point, James tried to ask Mama Knight advice since he was interrupted before, but everyone at the table groaned, so he dropped it.
Once dinner was over, everyone thanked Mama Knight and Logan and Carlos volunteered to do the dishes. Mama Knight, Katie, and Camille, meanwhile, headed to the family room to watch TV.
James sat for a while with them, staring at the TV screen but not listening to any of it. After a few minutes, he dedcided he needed some fresh air and announced that he would be outside.
Once on the porch, he sat on a small bench that the Knights kept there. He looked out towards the sky and sighed. "Looks like a storm is coming this way...and it looks like a pretty bad one." James spoke to no one in particular.
A small breeze picked up and James hugged himself. It was gettin pretty cold out...
He realized he was still holding his songbook and slowly flipped through it, humming the tunes of the songs that were in it.
When he reached the final page he smiled and began to sing the most recent song he had written.
"Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high, there's a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby.
"Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams you dare to dream really do come true.
"Someday I'll wish upon a star, and wake up where the clouds are far behind me; wher troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me...
"Somewhere, over the rainbow, blue birds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow, why then, oh why can't I?
"If happy little blue birds fly beyond on the rainbow why, oh why, can't I?"
James quickly wiped his cheek as he could fel himself tearing up and he didn't want his eyes to get red. All he wanted was to get out of this place and live his dream of singing his hert out and making people happy with his music. But everyone made it obvious that his dreams were ridiculous and that he should just work for his mother. Nobody cared about his dreams, nobody cared about him.
He sighed and stood, closing Tori and heading back inside and sitting on the couch with everyone else.
"How was the air?" Carlos asked casually.
James rolled his eyes and responded, "Fine. A pretty bad storm is coming."
"Yeah, we were just watching the weather. Apparently it's gonna be a blizzard."
"Oh, joy." James said sarcastically.
They all watched TV for around thirty minutes before the doorbell rang and Mama Knight went to answer it.
"Oh, hi, Brooke," she greeted.
James froze and gulped at the mention of his mom's name.
"Hello, Jennifer. May I come in?" his mom said.
"Of course," Mama Knight said.
"Mom, what are you doing here!" James asked through his clenched teeth.
"I'm here for that book, James." she said simply.
"I'm not going to give it to you!" he protested. He was now standing.
"I think you are James. You see, I brought this with me to guarantee that you do." she said as she pulled a sheet of paper out of her purse.
"What is that?" James asked.
"This," she said, "Is a signed contract for your entry into the Dallman's Academy for Young Gentlemen. It is a boarding school in Nebraska that focuses on...troubled...young men. If you don't hand over that book and agree to work for me, I will send this to the school and get you enrolled."
"So?" James said. "At least I'll be away from you!"
"James, don't speak to your mother that way." Mama Knight said.
"Why? It's true. I'd love to go to that school."
"I don't think you would James. Besides the fact that you wouldn't see any of your friends anymore, this school doesn't have arts classes. There is no singing. You have to give up your silly dreams either way, so you can decide whether you want to be home with your friends or away at a strict boarding school with strangers."
"I'll never work for you!" James said. He noticed that there was an open window a few feet from him and started to plan.
"James, just give her the book." Mama Knight said.
"No!" he siad, a bit louder now, and then he threw his book towards the window.
In that moment his mom's eyes went wide and she yelled, "Cath that notebook!"
Unfortunately for James, Carlos caught it, and with an I'm-so-sorry look, he tossed it to James's mom.
She swiftly caught it and smiled. "Good. I'll be seeing you at hime James. You start work tomorrow."
"No, Mama Knight, please don't let her take me dreams away!" James begged.
Mama Knight sighed and opened and closed her mouth a few times, before finally saying to his mom, "You know, Brooke, I've known you for quite a few years; and from that time of knowing you, I have quite a few things on my mind that I'd like to say to you. Being a christian woman, though, I just can't bring myself to say it."
"Well I can." Katie said. "And you'd better get out of this house before I do."
Brooke gave them both a cold look before turning around and leaving.
Everyone stood for a minute in awkward silence, James trying to hold in his anger. Needless to say, it didn't work.
He approached Logan and stuck a finger in his face, yelling, "Thanks, Logan. You-you're supposed to be the smart one, you're supposed to be the clever one, but you couldn't have heped me get out of that situation? Where was your brain, huh? Some friend you are."
He moved to Camille and said, "And you, you were too scared to do anything. You're always so scared of everything it's just..it's...ridiculous."
Then he moved to Carlos. "And you, you're the worst of all! You caught the book and gave it to her! Do you not care about my dreams? Do you not have a heart?"
"Wow, James, those are some pretty hurtful things." Carlos mumbled.
Finally, James headed over to Mama Knight. "Mrs. Knight...I thought I knew you better than this. You let her take my dreams away from me, and I'll never forgive you. I-I just-I just hate you!"
Mama Knight gasped, but James didn't stay to watch their reactions. "I'm out of here." he said, and he made sure to slam the door on his way out.
He began walking down the street without any real direction when something caught his eye. "Could it be?" he said to himself quietly.
He smiled with relief when he found he wasn't mistaken. For sitting in the street was his songbook.
"Tori!" he exclaimed as he grabbed it up in his arms and hugged it tight to his chest. "I thought I'd never see you again. My mom must have dropped you or something.
He flipped through the pages to make sure it was ok then tucked it in his pocket gently. "Come on, Tori. We're going to get out of this place and never look back!"
So, are you excited? Did you like it? Please, please tell me in a review. In the past like four updates I've done, I've gotten like four reviews. So, please? I'll give you a virtual hug! Or cookie! Whatever floats your boat ;)
Oh and please excuse any typos. I try the best I can to not have them, but some always slip through.
Well, thanks for reading!
AK.
