Whoo Hoo! Chapter Two is up!

Disclaimer: I'm dis claiming that I own Big Time Rush. Hence the disclaimer. :)

Guest: Thank you so much for reviewing! And thank you! :)

Thank you so much to everyone who has already reviewed, favorited, or followed this story! I love you guys so much!

Enjoy the chapter :)


Chapter Two: The Ice Queen

James's POV

It was a relief to get out of the chemistry lab, and away from Katie's stony silence. She had already made it very clear that wanted absolutely nothing to do with me, but we had two classes together, and we were lab partners. We weren't going to be able to avoid each other. Plus, if I made it onto the hockey team, we would probably be constantly fighting over the ice.

Kendall and Carlos caught up with me. "Lunch?" Carlos said to me.

I nodded. "Thank goodness, I'm starving."

"Me too! School makes me hungry and tired! I'm ready for a break."

Kendall chuckled. "So, how was it being partnered with my sister?" he asked me.

"Ummm…"

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah, kinda…I mean, no offense or anything, but she's not really all that nice…"

"I know. She doesn't like hockey players."

"I'm not even on the team, yet."

"Yeah, but you're hanging out with us 'hockey heads'. To her, that alone should condemn you to burn at the stake."

"Oh, great."

"Yeah…"

We ran into Logan on his way out of the classroom he had been in.

"So, figured out the cure for cancer, yet?" Carlos asked him.

"No, but we're working on it."

"He's taking advanced biology," Kendall explained to me.

"I didn't know there was such a thing…"

"Well, there is, and this genius here happened to find it."

"Awesome."

Logan grinned. "So, how was chemistry?"

"Awful," I groaned.

"Ms. Straumner put him with Katie," Carlos explained to Logan. "And Katie hates him."

"Plus, I might have insulted her…"

"What did you say?" Logan asked me.

"She said something about…someone…So I suggested she get an attitude adjustment. She just gaped at me like she couldn't believe I'd just said that."

"I can believe it. People don't insult Katie Knight very often. You just…don't. She's a force to be reckoned with. She's tiny, but she's a nasty guard dog."

"And she doesn't like me…I'm so screwed, aren't I?"

"Well, you never know. She's going to want a good grade in chem., so she might tolerate you."

"That's good to know…I guess…"

"And we have her in PE," Carlos piped up. "And you might have her in your last period," he added to me. "What is your last period?"

"English."

"You might."

"As long as I don't have to work with her…"

He shrugged in response.

We reached the cafeteria, and got into the lunch line.

"Oh, boy, figure skaters at two-o-clock," Logan alerted us, nodding towards the door. Sure enough, all four girls were walking into the cafeteria. It was my first time seeing all four girls together, and my eyebrows immediately shot up. All four of them were pleated or flared skirts, button-up blouses, and heels or sneakers.

Abercrombie and Fitch say what?

"They're dressed like clones," I said out loud.

"That's their standard wear. They're wearing their ice skating dresses under their clothes. They only have a limited amount of time on the rink, so every second counts. They wear clothes that they can get on and off easily," Kendall explained to me.

"Sometimes they'll wear t-shirts or sweaters or tank tops," Carlos added to me. "But always skirts."

"I guess they're easiest to get off," Logan put in. "Plus, they cover up their dresses."

"They sometimes just wear a jacket over their ice skating dresses," Carlos said. "But it's rare. The teachers don't like it very much – they think it'll be distracting, because of how tight and sparkly their dresses are."

"That makes sense," I agreed as we moved up a little in the lunch line.

"Yeah. I know if Stephanie wore that every day, I'd never be able to concentrate."

"You barely can anyway," Logan teased him.

"Shut up. I'm just a very energetic and creative person."

"Uh huh…"

"I am!" he insisted, pouting.

Kendall laughed, rolling his eyes, as he stepped forward to get his lunch.

A few minutes later, we were all seated at a table, along with Shane, on one end of the cafeteria, with the figure skaters on the other end.

The girls were eating salad and yogurt, and the two guys on the team were downing protein shakes.

"They get creative for lunch," I commented dryly, nodding towards the ice skaters.

"Oh, yeah, they kind of need to be able to keep light. Lots of lean muscle," Logan said to me. "But then, I take it you know that?"

I nodded, and Shane smiled a little. We'd figure skated when we were younger. I had done it because I loved it. Shane had done it to keep me company. He had quit when he was in fifth grade. I hadn't stopped until the end of eighth grade, when my dad had made me choose between ice skating and hockey.

I never completely forgave him for that.

I took a bite of my sandwich, glancing over at the figure skater's table again, and my eyes locked with Katie's. In that split second, I completely forgot about chewing. It was as if I was being pulled towards her, like she was the North Pole, and I was south. In that moment, I had never wanted anyone more than I wanted her. It was all I could do to keep from getting up, rushing over there, and pinning her to the table while kissing her senseless.

Somehow or other, I managed to drag my eyes away from hers, and I remembered that chewing is essential when eating.

I managed to swallow, and downed my water bottle, trying not to pant.

What the fuck just happened? What the hell was that?

In the back of my mind, I realized exactly what it was. It was lust, or attraction, in its rawest, roughest form.

Oh…That's not good…

"You okay?" Logan said to me, obviously noticing that I was silently freaking out.

Yep, I'm great. Just about ran over to try and fuck Kendall's twin sister against the cafeteria wall. Nothing off about that, right?

I nodded, and drank some more water. Kind of the only thing I could do at the moment.

Carlos stuffed his macaroni and cheese into his mouth, humming through his food happily.

I chuckled slightly. From what I had seen, he was the sweet, energetic one, and innocently childish. Definitely the comic relief and the free spirit of the group.

I ate some of my own macaroni and cheese, licking the cheese from my lips.

"Ahem."

We all looked up to see Katie standing next to our table.

I ignored the way my face suddenly began to heat up.

"What's up?" Kendall asked Katie.

"I just wanted to confirm that I'll be staying with Mom, and you'll be staying with Dad, this weekend," she said crisply to him.

He nodded. "That's the plan, per usual."

"Okay. I'll see you later." She gave us an ice queen smile, before spinning around, and sauntering back to her table, her short skirt swishing around her thighs. I spent the next five seconds trying to catch my breath. Oh my gosh…

"And that just about sums up Katie's and my relationship," Kendall said to me.

"I keep telling him that he and Katie should do something together," Carlos spoke up. "But he won't listen to me."

"It'd take some major sibling bonding for us to become even remotely close again," Kendall replied with a shake of his head.

Logan nodded in agreement. "You two need to mend your sibling bond."

"No shit."

"So, how've your classes been so far?" Logan asked Shane.

"They've been good," Shane answered as he stirred his mac n' cheese. "The teachers here seem really nice."

"They are, for the most part," Logan agreed. "So, James said you're a hockey player too."

"Yep. Hockey's, like, my life."

"Yours and mine both," Kendall said to him, and him and Shane fist-bumped.

I grinned a little. It was nice to meet someone who shared Shane's passion for hockey. Even back home in Minnesota, where hockey was, like, the state sport, no one had felt about hockey the way that Shane did. But I could tell Kendall did, for sure. There was a blaze in his eyes that would ignite whenever hockey was mentioned. It was the same blaze that Shane would get.

We finished eating lunch, and got up to throw our garbage away. Study hall was next, so we headed to our lockers, while Shane made his way to his history class. We grabbed what we needed out of our lockers, and walked towards the library.

On our way, we passed by the cafeteria again, where the figure skaters were filing out. They threw us sneers as they passed in front of us.

Kendall, Logan, and even Carlos, grinded their teeth, before we continued on into the library.

We found a table quickly, and sat down, spreading everything out. We got started on our work, all of us plugging into our iPods and MP3 Players.

It was quiet, and there was a lot less tension without the figure skaters around. That was nice.

I managed to get my geometry homework out of the way, and I got started on my chemistry homework, which was really just a basic worksheet to make sure we understood the reading.

Eventually, the bell rang, and it was time to head to English class.


Katie's POV

"So, what do you think of the new boy?" Camille asked me as we got off of the ice, and headed towards the girls' locker room.

"James Diamond?" I asked, winkling my nose. "He's another hockey head."

"Yeah, but he's a hot hockey head. I mean, Logan's hot too, and Carlos and Kendall are both cute – "

"Ew! That's my brother!"

" – But damn! James could be a model!"

"Plenty of guys could be models," I reminded her.

"Just admit it. He's hot, and you know it."

I crossed my arms. "I know no such thing."

"Who are we talking about?"Jo asked as she and Stephanie caught up with us.

"James Diamond."

"Oh, yeah, him. He's hot."

"See?" Cami smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes.

"But he doesn't like figure skaters," Stephanie spoke up. "That's what you told us," she added to Jo.

"Nooo…I said he felt that the hockey team should come first. That doesn't mean he dislikes figure skaters. It just means he prefers hockey. Although, believe me, he's totally a hockey head," Jo added with disgust. "Probably as bad as Kendall – no offense," she added to me quickly.

"None taken. Kendall's the worst out of all of them – well, except for Jordan Talbot, the captain."

"He believes hockey is the reason why the earth was created," Stephanie agreed. "The guy's got a one track mind. And not the fun kind of one track mind."

We all stared at her for a moment, before pushing into the girls' locker room, to pull our clothes on over our ice skating dresses.

"I have English next," I sighed. "I hate English. Mrs. Waddleburger hates me."

"First of all, it's Mrs. Wattburgon," Stephanie said to me, "and second of all, you've never liked English. It's not that she hates you, it's just that you hate the subject."

"No, I'm pretty sure Waddleburger hates me."

She groaned. "Never mind…"

"What if you have James Diamond in your class?" Jo asked me. "What're you going to do?"

I snorted. "What're the chances of that? He's already in my PE and chemistry classes. I seriously doubt he's in a third class with me."

"You'd have to be seriously unlucky for that to happen," Stephanie agreed.

"Exactly."

"Even though he is fucking hot," Cami made sure to add in.

I snorted. Okay, fine, so it was all for show. As much as I hated to admit it, James Diamond really was fucking hot. He had these beautiful large eyes that, upon first glance, looked brown, but when you actually looked at them, you realized they were flecked with green and gold. Absolutely beautiful. And then there were his lashes, which looked like they belonged on a girl. So unfair. It was enough for me to need to take a deep breath, something that doesn't happen very often.

We finished getting dressed, and headed out, towards our last classes.

I stopped in front of the door to my English classroom, made a face, and pulled the door open.

Crap!

James Diamond was already sitting at a desk, earbuds in his ears, texting someone. I threw him a nasty look, and he must have felt my eyes on him, because he looked up, his eyes meeting mine.

I fucking hate you, James Diamond.

I hated that he was prettier than me. I hated that he made me need to catch my breath. I hated that he was in three of my classes, and that we were partners in one of those classes. I hated that at every turn, he seemed to be there. I hated that he was a hockey head. And I hated that I had to force myself to feel disdain for him.

I flounced to my seat, trying to appear tougher than I felt. I sat down haughtily in my seat, and crossed my legs, chewing hard on my bottom lip.

It took all of five seconds for me to crack.

I stood up, and stomped over to his desk. "Why are you here?" I demanded.

He looked up at me, and pulled an earbud out of his ear. "Repeat that, please?"

I hated how crisp and cool his voice was, when I had heard, from across the cafeteria, how warm his voice was when talking to people he actually liked.

"Why are you here?"

"Because the schedule gods put me in this class," he deadpanned.

I scowled.

He looked up at me. "Looking for a specific answer, Ice Queen?"

"Ice Queen?"

"Yes. Ice Queen. I think the name suits you, don't you?"

I gaped at him. Of all the nerve…!

He blinked up at me, a small smile causing the corners of his lips to turn up. He was enjoying this. He was enjoying tormenting me.

"Problem?" he had the nerve to ask.

I desperately wished I had a bottle of water or something to pour over his head, I really did.

Nothing magically appeared in my clenched fist, however. All I could settle for was a good glare.

His small smile became a full out smirk, and I held up my middle finger. "Fuck you, Diamond."

I sashayed as best I could back to my desk, trying to save my pride and dignity, but couldn't resist a glance over my shoulder. James's eyes were fixed on my legs…or my ass…or my hips…or all three.

A small smirk began to spread over my face. Obviously, teenage guys are notorious for taking horniness to the extreme. But the fact that he wasn't staring at another girl's assets (not that I had seen, anyway) told me all I needed to know. If I really wanted to, I could use this to my advantage, and damn it, if I wasn't tempted by the idea…

But before I could figure out how to tease James, the teacher, Mrs. Wadd-something-or-other, walked into the room. She gave me her usual stern expression, before turning to James and smiling sweetly at him as he bounded up to her desk.

I snorted quietly. She would probably love him. Kiss ass.

Once James sat down, Mrs. Waddleburger started the lesson. We were moving onto the second chapter in our English book, dealing with symbols in stories and allegories. There had been a brief introduction to symbolism in my tenth grade English class, and from what I remembered of it, nothing had computed. I just hadn't been able to understand any of it.

But it took James all of two minutes before he was asking the Waddling Duck questions. When she asked about a symbol in a poem, his hand shot up, and he got the answer right.

Figures. Teacher's pet, teacher's pet. Wasn't there a rhyme to it or something?

I ground my teeth. So. He had to be good looking, a smart ass, athletic, a hockey player, and smart? How was it that I had only known him for a few hours, and yet he was already crawling under my skin? I despised hockey players, but never like this. I already hated James Diamond with a passion that I reserved for ice skating. He made me feel like I couldn't breathe. I felt claustrophobic in the large classroom.

And as much as I hated to admit it, there was something else. A power rush. A sense of satisfaction. A tingling. It had all hit me when I realized that he was staring at me.

But I couldn't let myself become attracted to him. He had already made it pretty clear that he hated me the same way I hated him. It would be a fatal attraction, at best.

Besides, he was a hockey player. That alone made him off limits. It made him disgusting. Low. Cheap. Animalistic.

I bet he's good, I thought to myself as we began packing up. I sneaked a glance at him. I bet he's really good. I bet he's animalistic on the ice. He looks like he would be. I wonder if he is anywhere else…

No! Oh my gosh! If there's one thing I'm good at, it's controlling my thoughts. You have to be, when so much of your safety depends on your concentration. So, lust-filled thoughts were usually only partly formed, before I rolled my eyes and chalked it up to PMS. But my period had just ended a couple of days ago, and that thought had come with a very graphic mental image – one that sent shivers down my spine, and made me bite my lip.

Fuck it. Fuck it all.

I was a girl! I was an athlete! I couldn't afford to form a libido now! I was 16, in my athletic prime, and there was no fucking way I was going to let a fucking smart ass hockey player ruin what I've worked for my entire fucking life.

I stormed out of the classroom, in a high rage. I just needed to get back onto the ice, where I belonged. I was so thankful the hockey heads didn't have practice today, since they were a couple players short, so that I could get the good rink, if I hurried.

I stuffed what I needed into my backpack, and then marched to the girls' locker room, where I quickly stripped back down to my ice skating dress. I readied myself for practice, tying my hair up into a high ponytail, and going through my usual warm up stretches, before getting out onto the ice.

My coach, Sarah, hadn't arrived yet, so I went through my usual warm up routine alone, before switching gears, and beginning to skate as fast as I could around the rink.

Sarah eventually arrived, her thick blonde hair pulled back in a bun.

I skated over to her, halting abruptly in front of her. "I'm warmed up and ready."

She eyed me, and I prayed fervently that she couldn't tell that I was using ice skating to push a boy into the back of my mind.

"Good. Begin your routine from the top."

I did so. It was during my second move, the lutz, that Sarah stopped me.

"Your landing was a little shaky!"

How she could tell that my landing was shaky was beyond me. It had felt fine, but apparently it hadn't been.

"Start over."

Sarah was a good coach, by most accounts, but she wasn't a nice person. I was positively a Disney princess compared to her.

Ice skating coaches needed to be tough, but Sarah left no room for mistakes. I had gotten third prize at an inter-city competition the year before, but it hadn't been good enough for her. I should have gotten first, she had snapped at me, and then made me perfect every single move to a fine art. She was positive I had landed wrong, or one of my leaps hadn't been high enough, or I hadn't been graceful enough. It couldn't have been my routine, which she had put together for me, or the fact that some of the moves she had added on just a couple of days ago, so I hadn't had time to perfect them.

I didn't like her as a person, and I didn't like her as a coach, but she got me through competitions, and it was because of her that I was as good as I was.

Nevertheless, today's practice was difficult, one of the most difficult practices I had had. However, it was exactly what I needed. I focused all my energy on perfecting my routine, and by the end of it, even she couldn't complain that I hadn't put two-hundred percent into practice.

It was a good feeling, even though I was sore and hungry and tired by the end of it.

Once I was cleared to go, I dashed for the girls' locker room, and stripped, jumping into the shower. I closed my eyes as the hot water poured over my skin. This had to be the best feeling in the world. As I stood under the water, my mind wandered to food. I hadn't eaten since lunch, and I was absolutely famished, and I couldn't wait until dinner.

Once I had rinsed off, I got out, dried off, and redressed.

Sarah was waiting for me out in the hall. "Just a reminder – you nearly went up a size over the summer. Watch what you eat. And by that, I mean, stick with salads and yogurt. And no dressing."

My spirits plummeted. Sarah liked putting me on strict diets every now and then, when she thought I might have gained an ounce.

I had been scrawny growing up, and to be honest, I was still pretty scrawny now. I literally had no butt, so what James had been staring at, I had no idea. I had managed to get hips and a chest, more or less, but I was still skinny as ever. I had a bunch of lean muscle, and I had finally gotten myself to within a healthy weight zone the summer before.

But Sarah was strict about me maintaining my figure – or what I had of it. And apparently being within a healthy weight zone was strictly illegal, in her eyes.

"Of – of course," I said, trying not to sound sad or dismal. "I'll do it."

"Good. Go with the old diet. That worked last year."

I nodded, remembering the diet well. It basically meant me living off of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and lemon juice. I had had a dizzy spell in the middle of biology class, and had been taken to the nurse's office. The nurse had ordered me to begin eating normally again, but apparently Sarah didn't remember.

"But – remember what happened last year?" I asked weakly, knowing that her mind wouldn't be changed.

She brushed it off. "Everyone needs to make sacrifices, Katie."

Apparently my health was one of them.

I nodded again, and hurried off, biting my lip to keep from crying. I had been thinking longingly of a hot meal, of maybe some stew or clam chowder for dinner that night, but now I wouldn't get it. Sarah would make me record what I had eaten and drank down in a notebook. If she thought I was cheating on the diet, she would limit my calorie intake, and nothing I could do would stop her. She had the power. She could stop coaching me, she could take away the rink, because, in truth, she was the one who booked it and paid for it. She could refuse to enter me in competitions, or talk me up to any sponsors.

I had no choice.

The woman wanted to turn me into an anorexic, and that was what I was going to turn into.

I gritted my teeth. No…I had to fight this.

But I was tired and sad, and all I wanted to do right now was curl up on the couch in front of the TV with a big tub of ice cream.

That wasn't going to happen now.

Well, I decided, I'll just make it a nice, big salad. With a huge cup of tea. It was a meager thought, but it made me feel a tiny bit better at least.

And it was with that thought that I left the school, and headed out to my car, eager for the day to be over.

I only lived a couple miles or so from the school, so it wasn't a long drive. I parked in my driveway, and went inside. I made my dinner, did my homework, and got ready for bed.

It was just as I was closing my eyes, that I remembered I was going to have to face James Diamond in four periods.

Fuck.


This was originally supposed to be pretty much all from James' POV, but Katie wanted her say ;) So, what'd you guys think? Did you like it? Was it okay? Let me know what you think! The review post thingy and I will really appreciate it ;)