Logan Mitchell was surprisingly okay with change. Other people complained about how things changed, whether it was for the better or worse. Logan didn't have that problem. Change was just… change. It had to happen sometime. It could be great, like getting into the college of your dreams, or getting married, or having a child. Or it could suck, like getting fired, or having someone you love die, or breaking up with somebody. Either way, you couldn't stop it, which Logan knew all too well, so he took what came. Even now, after so much had changed in the past few months, he knew change was necessary and couldn't be helped, so he dealt with it.
Logan was currently standing in his new bedroom, which was about twice the size of his old room, but that was a nice kind of change. Except for the fact that even with a queen-sized bed, double closet, four bookshelves, a dresser, a desk with a computer and printer, and a door to a private bathroom, the room still felt a little too spacious. But that tends to happen when you move from a normal-sized four bedroom house to what is virtually a mansion. It did have a five car garage, a pool, and a housekeeper, after all. But that was his Aunt Brooke's taste, and she definitely had the money for it (she was known as the "Estee Lauder" of the Midwest).
While Logan attempted to fix his hair in his bathroom, he heard a knock on the door. "Just a second!" he shouted, but it was too late- his cousin, James Diamond, had already barged in.
"How long are you gonna take to get ready, Logan?" James complained. Logan raised his eyebrows.
"Are you kidding me? It takes you like an hour and a half to get ready every day."
James snorted. "Whatever. I refuse to be late on the first day of my senior year. I haven't seen anyone in, like, two weeks."
Logan rolled his eyes as he grabbed his bookbag off his bed and left the room, James following him. "Cause that's SUCH a long time. I'm so, so sorry. But I haven't seen anyone in about two months." Logan saw James' gaze soften in the corner of his eye, but chose to ignore it. He didn't need anyone's pity. It was his choice to move to Minnesota from his hometown Dallas, after all. "Why do you want to get to school so bad, anyway? I thought that I was supposed to be the nerd."
"Yeah. A badass nerd." When they had been little, James and some of their other cousins used to make fun of Logan for being so absorbed in school, but since Logan had gotten to middle school everything had changed. Sure, he still loved to learn, and wanted to be a doctor- somewhat- but he had also learned to let loose a little bit, which apparently impressed James. Logan blamed the fact that James grow up in a fairly small town, but tried not to bring it up now that he was living in Shakopee too.
Logan went down the stairs two at a time and went into the kitchen (the smaller one, used for snacks and shit, as opposed to the large one used to cooking for big dinner parties). Kelly Wainwright, the Diamonds' housekeeper/cook/sort-of-nanny, was in it, making pancakes. "Hey boys," she greeted.
"Hey Kelly."
"You don't have to make breakfast for us, you know," James said, sitting at the counter. He turned to Logan. "She's only doing this because you're here. She's always talking about not spoiling me and shit."
"Language, James," snapped Kelly, turning around and smacking him on the head with a spatula. She was pretty young, in her late twenty's, and acted almost like a big sister to James. Since Brooke was pretty busy, she hired Kelly to watch over him and basically live with them.
"My hair!" James shrieked. Logan laughed.
"I just want your first day of school to be a good one, Logan," she explained to him, turning around to finish the pancakes.
"It'll be fine."
"James, I want you to make sure Logan doesn't get lost. You have to show him around." Logan and James both rolled their eyes when she couldn't see them. "Oh, and I want you to let Logan drive you both to school today."
"WHAT?" shouted James while Logan did a victory dance "But it's my car!"
Kelly shrugged, turning around to serve them. "He's a better driver than you, and more responsible. It's only until your mom buys him a new car."
Logan looked exasperated. "B-but I don't need a new car!"
"Like hell, you don't. I don't want you driving my car all year," grumbled James.
Logan shook his head. "She shouldn't-"
Kelly cut him off. "Shush. She wants to. You'll need one eventually anyway. And it's not like this family can't afford it."
Logan didn't say anything. He knew it was no use. Between Brooke, who you didn't say no to, and Kelly, who could be fucking scary sometimes, there was no arguing.
When they pulled up to the school, James was silent as Logan cut the engine. He had attempted to take the keys from Logan when they had gotten the BMW, but got a threatening look from Kelly and conceded.
Logan looked at James, slightly concerned with his sudden silence. Usually they got along pretty well, and on the way to school they had talked and sang along to the radio.
"So…" Logan decided to continue when James didn't say anything. "You don't have to show me around, if you don't want to. And you don't have to, like, hang around with me or anything. I'll be fine, and I'm sure your friends and me won't-" he stopped when James looked at him.
"That's not it. I'll show you around, and stuff. It's just…when they find out, most people will be pretty cool. But there are some jackasses, and like religious freaks. So…just warning you."
Logan sighed. "It's fine. I'm used to it, by now. Don't worry, okay? Unless the hockey team will freak when I try to join it."
James looked thoughtful. "There might be a few people… But don't worry, me, Carlos and Kendall will stick up for you."
"Ah, the famous Carlos and Kendall. It's weird to think we've never met." Logan got out of the car and started towards the building, which was already swarming with kids.
"Yeah, I know. But Texas is pretty far away…" James followed him before immediately getting distracted by people saying hi to him.
"Hey James, where were you at Mercedes' party?" one guy called.
"Hey, Guitar Dude. I was in Paris, actually…" Logan could feel people looking at him while he listened to James talk. He didn't exactly like being the center of attention, but unfortunately, he was sort of used to it by now.
"C'mon, I'll take you to the office." James tugged on Logan's arm, pulling him towards the building.
Kendall Knight was glad that he only lived a few blocks away from the school. It sucked being picked up by your mom, and he was pretty sure it would suck more if he had to walk like a mile. But, every day, he only had to walk for about five minutes before he was on the front lawn, and his baby sister Katie only had to walk for ten before she was at the middle school, where she was now a seventh grade.
"Sup, Knight!" he heard somebody shout as he made his way up the stone steps. He waved back at Mike, one of the guys from the hockey team, which he was currently captain of. He didn't really consider himself popular- not like Mercedes or Dak or the Jennifers- but he and his friends were fairly well known in their school. It wasn't tiny, but it wasn't huge, either.
Kendall moved through the crowd, saying hi to people he hadn't seen in a while, which wasn't really that many. Kendall and his mom and sister hadn't really gone anywhere over the summer, except for a couple trips to the nearby lake. The only people that he hadn't seen in a long time were his best friends, Carlos and James. Carlos had spent nearly a month in Mexico, like he did every summer, and James had been in Paris for the past two weeks. And before that….Kendall didn't really know. James had said he was in Texas, seeing family, but Kendall thought that was weird because Brooke, James' mom, didn't really get along too well with her family, besides James' uncle Clyde.
"Kendall!" Kendall heard a shout and was immediately tackled as soon as he turned around.
"Hey Carlos," he laughed. He looked around Carlos' giant helmet and saw Stephanie and Jo approaching, smiling at him. "Hey ladies. What's new?"
"We've found this year's conquest!" sang out Jo, nudging Stephanie with her arm. Stephanie rolled her eyes. It was more like this year's conquest for Jo; after all, Steph had the most obvious crush in the world on Carlos and had for years. The only person who was not aware of this was Carlos.
"Oh yeah? Who?" Kendall honestly wasn't that interested in his ex-girlfriend's latest crush. They had dated for the better part of last year, but mutually decided to end it after a good eight months. Neither of their hearts were really in it anymore. And though Kendall would never ever in a million years admit it to anyone, there was another reason behind it, too. But it didn't matter anymore. He and Jo were just friends.
"Hot new guy." Jo waved a hand dramatically in the direction of the crowded hallway. "I don't know his name, but damn, that boy is fine. Even the Jennifers are taking notice." Kendall raised an eyebrow at that. The Jennifers were the biggest ice queens in the school, perhaps Minnesota, and they never noticed a guy if he didn't get down on his knees before them and beg.
"Hold on for a second, chica," said Lucy, sliding her way into their conversation with a smirk. "He may be cute, but are you sure he's to your tastes?"
"What's that supposed to mean?
"I mean, if you haven't seen him, you should know he sort of gives off that bad boy vibe. Not exactly your style." Lucy gestured towards Kendall.
"Hey! I could be a bad boy if I wanted to."
"Sure, Kendall." Kendall stuck his tongue out at Carlos.
"I can deal with a bad boy, Luce. I'll knock the bitches out of the way if I have to." Jo looked around, as if hoping to find the guy. "Now all I need is an introduction…"
"Uh, that might not be a problem." Stephanie pointed across the hall, where James was standing with a kid that Kendall had never seen before.
The guy was a little bit on the shorter side, but well built, with pale skin and short, raven hair that stuck up slightly, but almost artfully. He was wearing a pair of Ray Bans and a simple outfit that read, yeah, I'm cool but I don't try. He looked somewhat disinterested at first, but then James said something to him that made him crack a grin. A gorgeously crooked, slightly dimpled grin that made Kendall's heart skip a beat. Almost immediately, Kendall pushed the thought out of his head, but it was too late- the seed had been planted, and there was nothing he could do.
"Ooh, if James knows him, this'll be easy!" Jo grabbed Stephanie's hand and started pulling her towards the two boys, but it was too late- Carlos was already there.
"JAMES!" cried the Latino as he launched himself onto his taller friend.
"Carlitos!" James shouted back playfully, shoving his best friend into a locker gently.
Kendall cracked a grin as his two best friends horsed around for a couple seconds before James stopped to fix his hair. "Whassup, bro?" Kendall pulled James into a manly hug, and over his shoulder he could see the new guy watching the pair carefully through his sunglasses. Once Kendall let go, the girls moved in to give James hugs, but Kendall was still watching the new guy. Partially because he was curious about the boy and why he was with James, but also because- well, he just couldn't look away.
"So," began Jo, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "Who's your friend?" All eyes turned to James, including the man in questions'.
"This is my cousin, Logan Mitchell. He's finishing out his senior year here." Kendall bit back his surprise. Cousin? They looked absolutely nothing alike…and Kendall was pretty sure he had never heard of this Logan guy before. But then again, since when did he pay attention to every single member of James' extended family?
"Nice to meet you." Jo flashed a grin. "Where are you from, Logan?" She tossed her ash blonde hair over her shoulders. Kendall saw Stephanie roll her eyes and he couldn't help but agree, she was laying it on a bit thick.
"Texas," murmured Logan, watching the group idly. It was sort of weird. An awkward and extremely unusual moment of silence ensued.
"Right! Well," began James, obviously trying to break the tension. "Logan this is, um, Jo, Lucy, Stephanie, Carlos and Kendall." Logan nodded once.
"Yes, the famous Carlos and Kendall." Kendall couldn't tell if he was trying to make his voice that raspy, or if it was just naturally that way. Just as he was about to open his mouth and say hi- something that he really shouldn't have found so hard to do- the bell rang, causing Kendall to flinch and Carlos to yelp.
"Smooth," snickered James. "Okay, where are you going Logan?"
Logan took off his sunglasses, revealing a pair of dark brown eyes. "James, I don't need you to baby me. Just because your mother ordered it."
"Nobody can refuse James' mother, though," Carlos told him.
"I do."
"Just tell me where the fuck you're going Logan."
"Nope." Logan smiled and waved. "I'll see y'all around." He sauntered away lazily.
"You're drawling again!" James called after him. Logan just gave him the finger over his shoulder.
Kendall hated himself for feeling a little a jolt when Logan's voice took on that perfect little Texas twang.
