A/N – So this story is a companion to my story Sickness is Unacceptable. It is the story of Emily and the boys- basically how they came to be together.
Emily's POV
I sighed and collapsed onto the bed in a room I had just finished moving into. After a month of unpacking, I was finally fully moved into the Knights' spare bedroom.
It had been a long month. It had all started with that stupid car crash.
My parents had gone to the wedding of an old family friend. I was stuck home with the flu. Kendall, who (along with James, Carlos, and Logan) I had known pretty much since the day I was born, was at my house to take care of me while my parents were at the wedding, along with his mother AKA my godmother, Jennifer Knight. Kendall and I were sitting on the porch swing in the back of the house, snuggled in our sweats and a blanket or two each when Mama Knight had come outside, holding the phone and wearing a sad expression.
It was the hospital. My parents had hit a patch of ice on the way home from the wedding and the brakes had failed. The car flipped and they were killed on impact.
After that, I started living with the Knights. Mama Knight had always been like my own mother, so it wasn't such a big adjustment, but it's not like I can just leave my parents' memories behind.
Even so, this house was feeling more and more like home, not just the second one it had always been.
I looked around the room, a lump in my throat. It had already been a couple of weeks since they had left, but it was just now really sinking in that they were gone. My mom and I could never laugh together again, discussing makeup, boys, clothes, and all the things I could never really discuss because all my closest friends were guys. (Ignoring the fact that one of them is James, at least.) I would never squeeze my mother in my arms again, hugging her before I slept. I would never feel my dad's protective, warm embrace ever again. So many things I'd left unspoken… Now they'd never be said. Not to them.
Yes I had Mama Knight to be the mother I'd lack from now on. And of course, James, Carlos, Logan, and Katie were like my siblings and Kendall was all that and more.
But I'd still never have them again.
My musings were interrupted by the sound of sirens coming from right outside the house. I dried my tears and composed myself, before exiting my room and walking into the living room. I came just in time to see Kendall, James, Logan, and Carlos sit down on the couch, looking ashamed, but still exhilarated.
"What happened?" I asked, unsure of whether or not I wanted to know the answer.
"Minor fight with some security guards. No biggie." Kendall answered with a nonchalant shrug.
I raised an eyebrow at him, and then looked to Logan. "As it is obvious that fuzzy over there won't give me the full story, care to explain?"
"Well," he began. "Did you hear about the auditions Gustavo Rocque was holding to find the 'Next Big Thing'?"
"Yeah?" Who hadn't heard about that? A mega, 90's producer, looking for the 'fire for his barbeque' (as he stated himself in the interview)? Those auditions were being advertised everywhere!
"James wanted to try out, so we roped Mrs. Magicowski into letting us use her car to get there."
"Except when we got there," James picked up the story. "The talent scout holding auditions with Rocque wanted us all to try out."
"Logan went first." Kendall continued. "He beat boxed, but Rocque didn't like that very much. Then Carlos went and he, well, we're not quite sure what he did."
I nodded in understanding and laughed. "You did that 'farting into the mic' thing didn't you?"
Carlos slapped his helmet twice, looking proud. No words necessary for that one.
Kendall kept going with the story. "We all snuck in to hear James' audition. He was doing well until he got nervous and cracked. None the less, Rocque did not like him and made it quite clear that he thought James had no talent which is utterly absurd if you ask me."
James whimpered at the mention of Rocque's opinion of him.
"Sorry buddy."
"Anyway," Logan continued the story. "Kendall got really mad and yelled at him. His exact words- and I quote 'No talent? No talent? You're the one with no talent; you haven't had a hit in ten years!'"
Carlos, catching on, quickly imitated Rocque.
"'HEY! Girl of My Heart was a hit 9 years ago!'"
"'Hm, Girl to my Heart, let me see if I remember that Rock classic…' then he jumped on the table and sang the song, doing a little dance with it. Security was called and as he was being dragged away, he made up the Giant Turd song. Of course we had to help him so we all jumped in on the fight."
"Whoa, wait a second. What on earth is the Giant Turd song?" I asked, looking at Kendall in confusion.
"Oh, it goes a little like this," Kendall said. Then he started singing.
Oh you're such a turd
Oh yeah a giant turd
And you look like a turd
And you smell like a turd!
I clapped and cheered. "Add a couple of verses and you'll have a number 1 hit right there!" I said.
Kendall stood and bowed. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you all so very much!"
I was actually quite impressed by the song. It was quite catchy. And his voice happens to be fantastic. Put that together and put it up on YouTube and he could very well be the next big thing. That is, if he wasn't so opposed to social media. Well, not social media exactly, but more like what it does to people."
A sudden knock sounded at the door. I ran to open it, only to see Gustavo Rocque and Kelly Wainwright standing on the doorstep looking sheepish.
"Uhh, hi. I'm looking for Kendall Knight."
Five minutes later, I found myself sitting across from Gustavo and Kelly as they tried to convince Kendall to go to LA.
"Come on, you could make it big!" Kelly urged.
"But I don't sing!" Kendall insisted.
"Uhh, yeah you do. You sing all the time." Katie said.
"Hate to break it to ya Kenny," I said. "But it's true. You're always singing along to the radio."
"And, you always sing to me when I can't sleep."
"That's different!" He sighed, then looked at me. "What do you think Em? Should I do it?"
I was a bit taken aback that he would ask for my advice over everyone else's. But here he was, asking. So I needed to answer.
"Well, that depends."
"On what?"
"What you want to do. It's your life, so who am I to tell you what to do with it. Do I want to go to LA? Duh! But do you? Do you really want to give up James, Logan and Carlos for sun, fame and fortune? Yes, you can make new friends, but will they ever know you as well as they do? It would be an amazing experience and knowing you guys, you couldn't drift apart if you tried. The one thing I am going to tell you is that if you do decide to go to LA and become a singer, you can't forget your roots. No matter how famous you get, you can't forget the Minnesota you. The one sitting in front of me right now. The one with more going for him than anyone else I have ever met other than these guys of course." I gestured towards James, Carlos, Logan, and Katie. "And I swear, if you throw all that away- if you throw yourself away- for the sake of some silly recording contract, I will beat you until you are black and blue- feel good about it too- and never forgive you. I think- and this is just me- you should only do this if, and only if, you're absolutely positive you won't lose yourself on the way to superstardom. If you won't, then by all means go ahead. I'm dying to go to LA. But, it's your choice."
Kendall looked at me for a minute, then said "I'll go" to Gustavo.
"Great!" he said, getting up and making for the door.
"If…" Kendall continued.
"Why is there always an if?" Kelly groaned.
"IF… you take my friends with us and make us a singing GROUP."
"NO!" Gustavo yelled. "If you haven't noticed, your friends have NO TALENT!"
'WOW,' I thought. 'They weren't kidding. He's the devil, only almost bald and really pale (Which is totally weird 'cause he lives in LA, land of UV rays, spray tans and skin cancer galore). '
"Well," Kendall said. "I happen to know that they have more talent than dogs. You can turn them into stars, right?"
Now Gustavo was trapped. He knew it, we knew it, so naturally, he did what any normal person would do.
He threw a fit.
When he had finished his little tirade, Kendall still sat there, looking at him calmly.
"So we have a deal?"
"Yep."
And he left without another word. Kelly stayed behind for a couple of minutes, leaving us with flight details, housing details, and other various details, then followed him.
"Umm, what just happened?" James asked, his confusion etched clearly across his face.
"We're going to LA." Kendall stated simply.
Everyone just looked at each other for a minute before we started cheering,
Amid the celebrations, a thought occurred to me and I slapped my forehead.
"What's up Em?" Kendall asked me.
"I have to repack."
AN- And here it is, long overdue. The story of how they all went to LA. Any lines you recognize are not mine. I changed the way Kendall was convinced to go for it, but other than that…A lot of lines were the same but some were different. Hope you enjoyed!