Big Time Quads: Isn't it a Rush?

Full Summary: -Sequel to Big Time Quads- Everything in Hollywood is magnified: friendships, relationships, hook ups, mess ups, breakups, and breakdowns. It's a tough place to navigate if you don't have your head on straight or the right friends to keep you grounded. Life in the fast lane is enough to make even the normal ones dizzy. But those that live in the spotlight? It's a battle just to survive. Isn't it a rush?

Chapter 1:
Look Who's Back in Town

"Are they fighting again?"

Mikalya Mason put down the book she was reading and glanced at the sliding door in the middle of the room that had just opened. She nodded at her sisters who then filed into the room and flopped down on the pile of beanbags chairs that were stacked in a corner. Raised voices poured into the room from a crack underneath the door. The identical girls flinched at the tone her father

"This is their fifth fight today," Mikayla sighed as she reached over and placed her book on her bedside table. There's no way she'd be able to concentrate on it with their parents bickering again. "The worst part is it's over who ate the rest of the Chinese food."

"That's something you'd gripe over, not them," Melanie Mason pointed out. She ignored Mikayla sticking her middle finger in her direction. "What do you think has gotten into them lately?"

"They're probably just stressed," Jasmine Mason suggested. Her sisters didn't comment right away. Both their parents had been working an awful lot lately which only made them worry that it was because of them. Even if it wasn't spoken aloud they knew they were some sort of burdens when they were children but now as they were a year away from going to college? There's no doubt in their minds that tuition would be high and they were worried about it being covered to some degree. "I'm sure things will be better in the morning."

"You said the same thing yesterday, Jazz," Melanie pointed out. She sighed and her bangs lifted off of her forehead momentarily before falling back into place. "And they didn't stop fighting yesterday either."

The three other girls turned to look at their youngest sister, Samantha, who was painting her thumbnail. She carefully dragged the brush against her nail, leaving a green streak behind. She lifted her hand to her mouth and began to blow on it, pausing only when she saw the way her sisters were looking at her. "What?" She finally uttered.

Jazz sighed. "Sammi, aren't you worried about Mom and Dad?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. She began to tug at the red necklace around her neck as she waited for a response.

Sammi shrugged and shook her head. "Yeah, kinda," she admitted. "But it's not as if they're getting divorced. They've been together for twenty-six years. Why split up now?"

"You think they could get divorced?" Mel asked quietly, turning her eyes over to Sammi. "I was just thinking that they might be separated for a bit. Not divorced but…" Her voice trailed off.

"They are fighting an awful lot," Mickey mumbled, her eyes sticking to the blue paint wall across from her bed. She clutched her stuffed dog toy to her chest and ran her fingers against its synthetic hair. She let out a breath as silence fell over them only being punctuated by shouts and frustrated sighs from their parents down the hall. Mickey squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block it out her parents but it didn't work. It was almost as if they got louder. "God, I wish we could just…get away from it. Maybe give them more space and more time to focus on each other instead of being stuck in between them with all of the tension," she grumbled.

"That'd never happen. Face it, we're stuck," Sammi said as she leaned forward to begin painting her toenails.

A smile formed Jazz's face. "Don't be so sure of that…" She said slowly.

-X-

"What are you dorks doing?" Katie demanded as she walked into the living room. She was going to get something to eat but the sight of her older brother and his best friends slumped on the couch as if the bones had been taken out of their bodies. "Setting the world record for being dorks?"

"There's nothing to do," the boys chorused.

"But it's a beautiful day outside," Jennifer Knight said as she came into the room, a laundry basket filled with folded clothes was tucked underneath her arm. She placed her free hand on her hip. "You can sit out by the pool. Or go to the park. Or go to Rocque Records."

"We're not desperate enough to go to him to be yelled at today," Kendall replied before digging his face into the couch pillow he was resting his head on. Carlos, James, and Logan made grunts of agreement from where they were laying down. Carlos's was muffled from his hockey helmet sitting on his chest.

"This is ridiculous!" Katie grumbled while throwing her arms into the air. "You're famous! You've been on tour! You have money to spare. And you're just sitting around here when the world is at your fingertips? I'm not even allowed past the park! Stop being so pathetic!"

Mrs. Knight pointed at Katie and nodded her head. "She has a point, boys," she sighed and put the laundry basket down. "Look, I understand that going into pre-production for a new album is hard but you can't just sit around and do nothing."

The boys responded with a simultaneous, "Yes we can!"

Mrs. Knight crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay, here's what's going to happen," she said before stalking over to the corner where a large bag lay. She picked it up with a slight sound of strain and then carried it over to the boys, dropping it onto the ground with a loud thud. "I'm going to go to the gym. You boys are going to take your hockey gear and go to the skating rink. And you're going to take Katie with you."

"But Mom—" Katie started to protest.

"You're going," Mrs. Knight said sternly. "And you all are going to have fun. The fresh air will do you all some good and when was the last time you played hockey? When was the last time you were in any space that had cold temperatures? When was the last time you were on ice skates?"

"You know…" Kendall said slowly as he lifted his head from his pillow. "Mom is right," he continued as he got to his feet and looked around at his friends. "Remember our plans? Remember what we wanted to do before all of this even started? Becoming All-Star hockey players and then joining Minnesota Wild?"

"Actually, I wanted to be a doctor," Logan said as he lifted his finger into the air.

Kendall waved his hand. "Details. Anyway, the point is that even though our fame has changed we haven't changed. We're still the same, hockey loving guys who just so happen to be in a band and sing." He pulled his hockey stick out of his bag and gripped onto the tape, wrapped handle. "How about a little two-on-two like the good ol' days?"

Carlos jumped up; his hockey helmet perched atop of his head, and patted it twice. "I'm in! I can't wait to beat you losers…again!" He turned to Kendall and fist bumped him.

"Whoa, what do you mean 'again'?" James demanded as he jumped up as well. He put finger quotes around the word 'again'. "You've never beaten Logan and I before."

"Uh, yeah we have," Carlos responded. "Remember the hockey tournament of '99?" He asked with a lifted eyebrow.

"That didn't count! The ice was thin!" James responded. "In fact, you were the one who pushed me in!" He jabbed Carlos in the chest. "I could have lost my face!" He said while pointing his finger at himself and drawing a circle.

"But you didn't," Carlos replied. "You lost the match instead."

"You're going to lose your head instead!" James vowed. With a loud cry he tackled a screaming Carlos to the ground and started pulling at his helmet. Carlos held on for dear life, still screaming, as he tried to get James to let him go.

"Are you sure you want me to spend time with these weirdos?" Katie asked while jerking her thumb in the direction of James and Carlos who were now rolling around on the ground. "I could always just go and sit out by the pool."

"And give you time to come up with another get-rich-quick scheme?" Mrs. Knight demanded with a lift of her eyebrow. "I don't think so. I love how creative you are but you need to put your evil powers to good use."

Katie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "I need to make some new friends," she grumbled under her breath as she watched James and Carlos continue to roll along the ground like logs. She loved her brother dearly but sometimes he and his friends were just too…boyish. There was Camille and Jo she could spend time with but they were too busy being not-so-subtle about Kendall and Logan that there was no point in talking to them anymore.

It was times like these she wished she'd taken her father up on his offer of her staying with him. Sure, she'd be in Colorado but then she wouldn't be lonely every time the boys went off to do something. She tried to protest to her mother again but it fell on deaf ears. Grumbling again she went to her room and looked around for her ice skates.

It's been a long time since she had been out on the ice. She used to want to be a figure skater but that all changed when she turned seven. She didn't want anything to do with it anymore, which upset her mother for a while but eventually she got over it. Katie lightly traced her finger against her name which was stitched into the side of her white skates and let out a breath.

Shouldn't be too bad. And I can spend some more time with Kendall. We haven't been able to do that in a while. A smile began to form on Katie's face and she was soon energized with new hope. Yeah, and maybe we can even feed ducks at the park like we used to on the way back and—

"Carlos, James, save that for the game," Kendall said as he put the phone down onto the counter. He clapped his hands and said with a smile, "Camille and Jo are coming too."

Great. Katie's shoulders dropped but she grabbed her skates and hooked them over her shoulder anyway.

"But Camille doesn't know how to ice skate," Carlos pointed out as he popped up from the ground.

"That's where I come in," Logan said with a grin. "Being the excellent skater that I am I can get Camille to stay on her feet in no time and win points in the impression department at the same time."

"And I can impress the figures skaters with my impressive skating skills," James jumped in with a dreamy smile on his face. "Let's go!"

"Hold on!" Carlos said while holding his hand in James's face. "You're willing to break the Figure Skating Code?"

"If a pretty face belongs to a figure skater then I'll take my chances," James replied.

"Come on, let's just get going," Kendall said impatiently. "We don't want the girls to be kept waiting long. You know how impatient they get."

"You mean you know how impatient Jo gets," Logan corrected him. Kendal shoved his shoulder and lead the group out of the apartment. Katie trailed behind them, scowling.

Once they arrived at the ice rink the boys almost immediately took off leaving the girls to fend for themselves. Katie, being used to it, just sat by quietly as she laced up her ice skates but Camille and Jo grumbled about it.

"I understand that hockey to them is like cars to normal guys but why invite us if we're not even going to do anything together?" Jo asked as she adjusted the scarf around her neck. She pulled it tighter and then reached behind her neck to free her hair. "We could've just sat around doing our nails. Something more productive."

"I thought you liked to skate," Camille commented.

"Well, I do," Jo replied. "I just thought we'd be able to do some skating with them."

"One thing you need to know about those boys: nothing gets in the way of hockey. Not even girls," Katie said while hiding a smug smile. She got to her feet and smoothed out her jeans. "We can still skate around the edge." She led the girls in a line while shuffling to the entrance of the rink. Passing through the door her body shivered slightly at the vast temperature difference in the air. It made a lot of memories come back but she pushed them out as she steadily stepped onto the ice.

She wobbled slightly but quickly caught her balance, pushing off on one foot to glide a little ways away from the entrance. She stayed close to the wall to let other skaters move past her while waiting for Camille and Jo to join her.

Katie's eyes moved around the rink to rest on her brother and his friends going at each other just to reach the puck. She sighed and shook her head, pushing away from the wall.

"Look out!"

Before she had a chance to react Katie felt a hard shove from behind and she was knocked to the ground. She slid against the ice a few inches before coming to a rest on the ground. "Why don't you watch where you're going?" She demanded.

"Sorry, but you were the one who skated in my path."

Katie rolled over so she was sitting on the ice. She brushed at her knees to make sure they were fine. They were a bit sore but they weren't bruised, thankfully.

"Are you okay?" Jo asked in concern as she and Camille skated up. "That was a nasty fall." She grasped Katie's arm and helped her to her feet right as Kendall skated over.

"You alright, sis?" He asked in concern.

"Gee, don't worry about me. I'm fine," the other skater commented while slowly getting to their feet. Their hood had fallen over their eyes and they moved a hand to push it back. Then their eyes widened in surprise and they let out a little laugh. "Well, of all of the people to run into it's you guys. LA is a lot smaller than I thought."

Kendall let out a little laugh. "Jazz! What're you doing here?"

Just then her sisters skated up as well. "Hey look! It's Kindle!" Mickey said happily. "Small world."

Jo's eyes went back and forth between the girls and Kendall. She crossed her arms over her chest and cleared her throat. Kendall's eyes shifted over to her and he jolted slightly. "Oh! Uh, you guys haven't met the last time you were here," Kendall said. He pointed his hockey stick in Jo's direction. "This is Jo Taylor. Jo, this is Jasmine, Mikayla, Melanie, and Samantha Mason. They're Kelly's nieces."

"It's nice to meet you all," Jo said while shaking their hands. "It's funny, Kendall's never mentioned you guys."

"Ah, well, we're not that special," Mel said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"So when did you get back? Why didn't you tell us?" Camille jumped in.

"Well," Sammi started but stopped as a confused look fell upon her features. Everyone began to look around when they heard the strange sound of a falling airplane before Kendall was suddenly hit in the side and launched into the Plexiglas.

"Ooh, that looks like it hurt," Katie groaned as Kendall slumped to the ground.

"Mason!" James greeted the bunch with a charming smile as he leaned against his hockey stick. "It's great to see your beautiful face again…and yours, and yours, and yours."

"So…which Mason were you addressing first?" Jazz asked with a lift of her eyebrow as she motioned to herself and her sisters.

James's face fell. "Er…" He shifted his hockey stick that was resting on the ice only for a female figure skater who was passing by to trip over it. "Ooh. I'm sorry!" James cried.

"You're dead, hockey boy!" The girl growled.

James let out a high pitched scream and began to skate away, the girl chased after him causing the group to start laughing at his misfortune.

"Wow, that girl has a pretty mean right hook," Camille commented in surprise.

A/N: And the Mason girls are back! What kind of trouble will they get into with the BTR boys around? I hope you all stick around to find out. Thank you for reading and please review!

~C.M.