Chapter 1: The Only Life You Got
ーHayleyー
Even now - so long after the fact that it almost feels like it happened to someone else - I can remember the two days that my life changed forever.
The first day was when I was 13 years old, a North Carolina 7th grader and certified tomboy who kept getting into trouble for being a little too rough in intramural soccer. I was at a concert, and I met my three best friends there.
Said concert was a Big Time Rush show - the last ever BTR show in North Carolina, since it was also their last concert tour. It was an amicable split, I'd read in Pop Tiger, though I still cried my eyes out about it. James was going to start working in production, as well as continuing to model. Logan had to go to med school at some point, and Carlos was going back home to Minnesota to "figure stuff out." And Kendall - my favorite member my a long shot - had started to coach hockey back home, too, so there just wasn't time for more BTR. It sucked, and like I said, I cried until I couldn't cry anymore about it.
Then, I resolved to go see them live, for the first and last time. It took about a month of begging my older brother Freddy to take me, but he finally agreed - probably just to shut me up, but still. There aren't many bands that go to North Carolina anyway, so I'm sure he was a little excited too, even though he spent the entire time chatting up the girl at the merch table. Which meant I was alone in a giant crowd of screaming people.
But then! A bolt of luck struck me, and I met Alina Hernandez.
I already knew her, vaguely, since she was in my math class - she was the girl all the guys were dying to go out with, even when we were 13 and it didn't mean anything. She's probably the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on, and was even then, with her perfect tan and long, light brown curls and pale brown eyes. She also was alone in the crowd - or she looked like it, anyway - and I knew that if I didn't talk to her then, I'd miss my chance.
I ambled to her and tried to grin at her casually. "Hey, you're Alina Hernandez, right? I think we've got math together."
She turned to me, surprised, but then flashed a dazzling, relieved smile. "Yeah! And you're Hayley...something?"
"Hayley Blake," I replied, with a small laugh. "I didn't know you liked BTR."
"I don't like them, I love them," she said, gesturing at her red "I LOVE JAMES DIAMOND" t-shirt. "Especially James."
"I'm more of a Kendall girl, myself. Though I don't have a shirt for it," I noted, with a small frown. "It's really good to see a familiar face here, though. Are you here with your parents?"
"My papi, yeah. He's waiting in the parking lot for this to end - something about his hearing already being bad enough," she said, sheepish. "What about you?"
"My big brother Freddy." I gestured at the merch table. "He's flirting with that girl who's manning it."
Alina frowned. "Isn't that Katie Knight? Like, as in Kendall's little sister?"
"...If it is," I said, raising my eyebrows, "then he's got his work cut out for him."
Alina laughed, and I laughed too, but was then promptly interrupted when I was bumped into from behind. I whirled around, ready to fight whoever it was, but then paused. "Jessica Li?"
"Yeah," the girl replied, straightening herself up. "Hayley Blake. You knocked out my brother Jack in soccer the other day."
I sighed. "I'm super sorry, I didn't mean to, it was a mistake -"
"No, are you kidding? Seeing him go down was the best thing ever!" she replied, wrapping me into an unexpectedly tight hug. Jessica was shorter than I was then, and she hasn't grown much since, but she's changed plenty in other ways - namely, in that her hair isn't as straight and black now as it used to be. But she's still super short. "It's like I'm meeting Carlos Garcia! Oh, and hi, Alina! I'm Jessica Li, and I already know you because we have gym together," she said, letting go of me.
Alina gave her a tiny wave. "Good seeing you."
"Anyway," Jessica said, "would you mind if I stood here during the concert with you? My dads aren't here, and I'm sorta lonely."
Alina raised her eyebrows. "You're not here with your parents? They let you go to concerts by yourself?"
"My dads pretty much let me do anything I want. Jack too," Jessica explained, shrugging. "And they didn't want to go to this concert, so...I'm here."
"Well, one more isn't gonna hurt the island of misfit toys that much," I joked, smirking. "You're free to stay here as long as you want. So you like Carlos?"
"Yeah! He's so funny and energetic," Jessica said, eyes dreamy. "He's, like, my dream guy! And a half."
"Now all we need is a Logan fan," Alina commented, with a small smile. "Then we've got all four."
"It's kind of a crazy coincidence that I ran into you two, anyway," I said, with a shrug. "Maybe we'll meet a Logan girl by the end of the night..."
I trailed off as the lights dimmed, and the sounds of screaming fangirls and fanboys filled my ears. I was probably screaming too. But the night wasn't over yet.
The last of our quartet was somebody we met when the show was over, when we went to go to the merch table. "One Carlos helmet, please!" Jessica chirped, cheerfully, as she forked over the $30 needed for it and fastened the thing on her head.
"And I'll take a Kendall hoodie, biggest size you've got," I said, reluctantly giving the girl - who was definitely Katie Knight, just a few years older than me - the $40 needed. I pulled the dark blue hoodie over my head and sighed happily. "It's so warm."
"I don't think I need more James stuff," Alina said, biting her lip. "But also, signed headshots..."
"I'd go for it," Jessica said, tapping her head playfully. "You're not gonna get another chance."
Alina sighed. "Don't remind me."
"U-um, excuse me," said a voice, from behind me. "If you're st-still deciding, can I get through?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, sure," I said, stepping out of the way and looking at the girl who the voice belong to. She wore thick glasses and a familiar school uniform.
"Wow, you go to Maple Park Prep?" Alina said, raising her eyebrows. "I thought they didn't let their students go out on school nights."
"They don't," said the girl, her blush obvious. Her dark brown braids did a decent job of hiding her face. "I k-kind of snuck out."
"Wow. Badass," I said, with a small grin. "What's your name?"
The girl didn't even make eye contact as she replied, "Lola. Lola Brown."
"Cool! I'm Hayley Blake."
"I'm Jessica Li!"
"And my name's Alina Hernandez - you'll want to remember that in the future," Alina said. "Anyway, we'll let you buy some merchandise."
"Thank you," Lola said, still blushing, even as she bought a Logan Mitchell-signed T-shirt.
Jessica's eyes widened. "You're a Logan girl?"
"H-he's smart," Lola explained.
"That's crazy," Alina said, eyes widening. "I guess we've got one of each here, then."
"One of each?" Lola asked.
I nodded. "I like Kendall. Jessica here is a Carlos fan, if you couldn't tell from the helmet, and then Alina likes Jamez."
Lola raised her eyebrows. "What a c-coincidence."
I bit my lip. "How early do you think you're going to have to be back at MPP?"
"I...m-maybe 7 in the morning? I don't l-live there," Lola explained.
"And Jessica," I said, turning to the short girl. "You said your dads let you do whatever you want?"
"Whatever," Jessica confirmed.
"How about we do a sleepover at your house, then?" I suggested, grinning. "We can stay up all night and watch BTR videos."
"I like this plan," Alina declared, taking out her cell phone. "Let me just text my Papi so he knows where I am."
"And I'll text Freddy," I agreed, still grinning. I didn't know why then, but it felt like some hole in me was filled that night. But it was only the first step to the rest of my life.
Four years later, right at the beginning of spring break, the three of us were at Jessica's house again. (Hers was the biggest - one of her dads, Harold, the biological one, was a stock trader with loads of money.) We were Juniors, soon going into our senior year, and as per usual, we were sleeping over. It was the day after our spring choir concert - that was the only class we all had together.
Alina was still too pretty to look at, sometimes - her parents finally let her start wearing makeup, and it just enhanced everything that was already there. Her lipstick was red, her hair was shiny, and she had a new boyfriend every week. Somehow, though, she didn't have a bad reputation or anything, though she broke hearts like I broke vases.
Jessica had embraced her quirky side, shopping almost exclusively at vintage and thrift stores, and curling her hair and dying it her favorite color, rose pink. She'd found her niche in the art clubs of our high school, being a member of all of them except for the handicrafts club. ("I'd want to model, but everyone says I'm too short," she always said.)
Lola ended up switching to public school for high school, so she could be with the rest of us, and she took the academic scene by storm, with the best grades in our class by a long shot. She wasn't much for fashion, she still was incredibly quiet, and she still had to wear giant glasses, but she'd taken to putting her braids in a bun so we could see her face.
And me, Hayley Blake...
I guess it'd take a third party to see how much I'd changed - I couldn't judge that very well for myself. I have blue eyes, with admittedly nice eyelashes and admittedly bushy eyebrows, and the longest, straightest, most boring black hair you've ever seen. I still played soccer - though a little bit less roughly - and was hoping to even get a scholarship for it. But my plans changed that day, and I thoroughly blame Alina - though it's at least a bit my fault too.
"Jess, can we watch TV?" Ali asked, hanging upside-down from the short girl's bed. "I don't know how your remote works, but I'm pretty sure that BTR documentary is on."
Jessica's eyes lit up. "Oh my god, yes! It's been, like, so long since the last time we watched it."
"Three months," Lola commented, not looking up from her copy of Emerald Skies: Battle of the Ecrana River. "It's been three months."
"It feels like a long time," Jessica said, pouting, as her giant flat-screen TV swung down from her ceiling with the touch of a button. "MTV, right?"
"Most definitely," I confirmed, after checking the schedule on my phone. "I can't believe the concert was four years ago."
"It feels like yesterday," agreed Alina. "But isn't it almost to the day? Lo?"
"About a week off, but yes," Lola said, carefully marking her page before turning to the TV. "The concert was April 8th, and today is the 16th, making a difference of 8 days."
"Thanks, Lola. Can you come take the SAT with me?" I joked, elbowing her playfully.
"No."
"Yep - I already have Lollipop booked that week," Jessica said, grabbing onto our friend's arm possessively.
"Also no."
"We still need to teach the girl how sarcasm works," commented Alina, as the TV showed the music video for City Is Ours.
"Isn't this a bop?" Jessica said, excitedly. "We pull up, open the door, all the girls scream, there they are!"
"It's packed from wall to wall and everybody is calling," I sang, in response.
"Here we come! It's almost time, feel the rush now, hit the lights!" Alina joined, while Jessica began her signature beatboxing and I harmonized.
"We gonna get it all started," Lola finished, quietly, though the fact that she was the best singer of the four of us was obvious even then. We ended up singing along to the whole song, and Alina and Jessica - members of the school dance team - got up and imitated the choreography perfectly. When the song ended, the four of us collapsed on Jessica's bed, all giggling, as the TV cut to commercials.
"I could sing with you all forever," Lola said, obviously happy. "I know it's mostly Ali's dream to be famous, but..."
"If it could be all four of us, then that'd be the best for sure," I finished.
"Definitely," agreed Jessica and Alina, at the same time.
"All we need is for some audition to come to NC, and we're set," Alina said, stretching.
"Yeah, but nobody becomes to NC. We're a flyover state, aren't we?" Jessica said, pouting.
"Unfortunately," Lola confirmed.
"Do you want to be famous?" the TV asked, suddenly. The four of us sat up rapidly.
"Yes, TV," Alina said. "This is the craziest coincidence of my life, by the way."
"The Diamond Productions 2019 auditions are now open for signups in North Carolina," said the advertisement, which also featured a static image of James Diamond in a nice suit. "Head on over to Mullett Auditorium to sign up and get famous - big time! Signups close at 3PM."
"They really couldn't record someone saying the specific details, could they?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
"Who cares how it's recorded? We need to get dressed and over to Mullett now. Jess, which one of your dads is home?" Alina asked, already digging through her overnight bag for what I assumed was something tight-fitting and red. (It was her color.) "It's 11 AM now. Do we have time to stop by our houses to change before?"
"Um, Stephen?" Jessica replied. "Should he drive us? He can probably drive us."
"Text him and ask," I said, also standing up and stretching. "If we change fast at our places, then we can probably get there by 3. Jess, you'd better change here and now. Lola's house is closest to the theater, so we can go there last. Ali's can be first, and mine can be in the middle."
"On it," Jessica said, retreating into her giant wardrobe.
Lola frowned. "Is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?"
Alina raised her eyebrows. "Do you want to meet James Diamond wearing pajamas? Because right now, you're wearing pajamas."
"But they're comfortable. And who said James was actually going to be there?"
"Comfortable isn't going to get you famous, darling," Ali replied. "But I'll help you pick something nice."
"I'll help too!" chirped Jessica, stepping out of her closet in a white tennis skirt and fuzzy hot pink sweater. "How do I look?"
"About as Jessica Li as possible," I replied, grinning. "Now let's head to Alina's before time runs out, yeah?"
"My dad can drive. To the garage!"
"To the garage!" We all chorused back. How were we supposed to know just how that audition was going to go?
A/N:
Hey guys! Memoryn here. I've been rewatching BTR lately and wanted to write some showverse fic...but I also wanted to write it with OCs. So here you go! I don't know who I'm going to pair all the guys with yet, but if you have any preferences, I might take them into account. There will be a lot of cameo appearances from a lot of the characters, but James is the one you'll see the most. How has he changed in four years? Well, you'll find out next chapter!