.:Chapter 02:.
Sauté some anxiety and comments and let it boil until it starts to come to a head. Then gently cool it down until you're sure it won't burn itself out.
Bet- noun
An agreement usually between two parties that the one who has made an incorrect prediction about an uncertain outcome will forfeit something stipulated to the other; a wager.
"This is definitely a bet that I plan on winning too," she murmured to herself, her chin in her hand, glancing at the computer screen. She lifted her right hand off of her laptop and pushed her glasses up her nose.
"Did you say something?" Rhuben called from her bedroom, which was attached to Riley's with a sliding door. The two of them never closed it.
"I'm talking to myself," Riley called back. "I'm just saying that I'm going to win this bet, no matter what."
"With us helping you, there's no way that K-Dawg could beat you," Rhuben agreed. "Sure, I may be laughing at you guys and saying what you're doing is stupid, but when have ever known the boys not to do anything stupid."
"Exactly." Riley laughed.
Riley minimized the web page and looked at the background of her computer. It was split in half horizontally. The top picture was of her, her eldest brother Julius, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney with their parents about ten years ago. Sydney was only a baby then. She stared at the picture of the eight of them, on the beach, smiling brightly for the camera. It was one of the many 'family portraits' that their mother had insisted upon taking. Little did they know that it was going to be their last one together as a complete family. It was taken only half a year before the fire. She stared wistfully at the picture of her parents, frozen in time. Over the years she didn't think about them as much as she used to, though that didn't mean that she would allow anyone to talk badly about them. It was that she didn't get upset as she used to and would freely talk about them whenever someone asked.
It was the abuse that she couldn't talk about. Not seriously anyway. She and her siblings hated the attention and the fact that anyone that asked or accidentally brought it up acted like they were going to fall to pieces. That's why they made jokes about it, it was still really hard to talk about it, and they were still getting over it.
It's not like we're going to get mad at you for bring it up. Riley lightly shook her head. Either ask what you want to ask or get over it. We're trying to.
She then lowered her gaze to the bottom picture. That was the most recent one, taken last year when Ronan had officially adopted her and her siblings. In reminiscence to the photo taken above, which was unanimously decided on by her and her siblings, it was Ronan, Julius, Riley, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney all smiling brightly for the camera as they stood on the beach. Rhuben had taken that picture on a timer, and then they had spent the rest of the day at the beach, just hanging out.
At least things are better for us now.
She lifted her hand and pushed down the lid of her laptop until it closed completely. She then turned around in her chair and got up, stretching her arms over her head and leaving her room. She went into the bathroom and flipped on the light, opening the medicine cabinet. Seven medicine bottles stared her back in the face. She picked one up and looked at the name on the bottle: Rilandon Sydney Jackson. She made a face; she hadn't seen her name spelled out completely for a long time, it was slightly jarring to her.
Riley lightly shook the bottle, frowning when she realized that there weren't many pills left. She closed it in her first before closing the door to the medicine cabinet, studying her reflection in the mirror that was on the front of the door. She couldn't help but smile. She definitely was a lot happier now than she had been before; she had great friends, a flourishing music career, great fans, and an amazing family that she loved dearly. It was the first time that she had smiled that much in a long time and she hoped that things would stay that way.
"What the?! Patrick!"
"Uh-oh," Riley turned off the bathroom light and stepped outside into the hallway as Rhuben flung open the door to her room and stormed towards the stairs. "What'd I miss? What'd the boofhead do this time?"
"You're going to miss me kicking his bloody face in," Rhuben growled as she hurried down the stairs, Riley trailing after her. Patrick was sitting on the couch, Noah was in an armchair, and Sydney was lying on the floor. All three of them looked up when their sisters entered the room. "Patrick," Rhuben repeated, her teeth gritted together.
"Uh-oh." Patrick sat up straight, giving a nervous smile. "What'd I do?"
"Have you been using my CD player?" Rhuben asked, holding her hand out, the object resting in her palm, being held by her fingers.
Patrick thought for a moment and then shook his head. "No," he said finally.
"Then why is there," Rhuben slid the bar on the front of her CD player to the side and the lid popped open. She reached inside and pulled out a piece of lunchmeat, waving it in the air. Sydney sat up from the floor and looked over at Noah with a raised eyebrow. Noah merely shrugged in reply. "Bologna in it?"
"Oh!" Patrick grinned widely. "Well, I was making a sandwich, like, two days ago, and then Ronan called me upstairs to ask me about my homework, which of course I hadn't started, and then when I went back downstairs, I realized I didn't have it in my hand anymore and I assumed that one of the dogs got to it." He blinked once. "Are you mad?"
"You got that right!" Rhuben snapped her CD player shut.
"Then it's doing its job!" Patrick beamed.
"Beauty." Noah smiled.
Rhuben gave him a murderous look as Riley, Sydney, and Noah started to laugh. Riley rand and jumped onto the couch, causing Patrick to let out a grunt of pain as she landed on his lap. "Pat, next time you have a death wish, why don't you just go in and break all of her CDs." She flipped her pigtail over her shoulder.
"Ha ha," Patrick rolled his eyes. "So I stuffed up, ay."
"That wouldn't make her murder him," Noah pointed out, his leg crossed at the knee, slouched so far down in the chair that he was sitting in that the others wondered if he had sank into the cushions. "That'd just make her head explode, yeah."
"Oh!" Sydney pushed himself up into a sitting position, his eyes shining. "That would be cool to watch!"
"Syd!" Rhuben shot him a look of offense as she sat down on the floor, resting her back against the couch.
"Well, we all have to make sacrifices some time, Rhu-Rhu." Sydney shrugged as his siblings laughed again. He then turned towards his eldest sister and pointed at the bottle that was in her hand. "What's that?"
"Oh," Riley held up the bottle. "Does anyone else need their medicine refilled? I need mine done and thought that I would ask." She tossed the plastic bottle onto the floor before stretching out onto the other side of the leather couch. She then looked at the clock, sighing loudly when her siblings shook their heads. "I'm bored; does anyone want to go to the beach?"
"We were just there this morning," Sydney remarked. "My hair is still wet from being there." He shook out his hair to prove his point. "Not that I'm complaining," he added quickly, seeing the shocked looks on his siblings faces.
"I was going to say," Noah smiled. "If you hated the beach, we would have to disown you."
Sydney frowned and picked up a pillow, tossing it at his brother. Noah grabbed it out of thin air and gave his youngest brother a warning look before he charged at him. Sydney let out a loud scream ad leapt to his feet before he started to run around the spacious living room; Riley, Rhuben, and Patrick screaming and cheering for their brothers.
While they had been back home in Australia at the start of their break, Ronan had finalized a sale and bought them a house to live in. So he, Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney had packed up their stuff and moved out of his apartment and into the house. They hadn't finished moving in completely, they probably had a couple more weeks to go before they could say that they were all moved in. Most of their dishes and silverware hadn't been unpacked, their rooms were filled with boxes of their stuff, the basement was still a mess, Ronan's office was still in boxes, and for the most part, they were still living out of their suitcases. But it was home to them and they were still getting used to it.
As Sydney took another lap around the couch, Noah cut back and dove over the couch, knocking his brother to the floor and started to hit him over the head with a pillow. The three older children continued to cheer loudly, watching as Noah and Sydney continued to hit each other.
Rhuben turned her attention to her phone as it let out the Power Rangers communicator sound, letting her know that she had gotten a text. "Hey, hold up!" She called, holding up a hand. Noah and Sydney kneeled behind the couch, resting their arms on the couch. Sydney to the chance to knock Noah to the floor, giggling to himself.
To: Rhuben
Hey, you guys need to go down to Rocque Records. Kelly, Gustavo, and I need to talk to ya.
From: Ronan/Dad
"Ronan says we need to go to Rocque Records," she said, sliding off of the couch. "Apparently he, Gustavo, and Kelly have something they need to tell us." She spun her phone in her hand. "I wonder what about."
"He would have waited to get home if it wasn't important," Riley commented. "Ace, we have something to do. So we should be going now." She and her siblings went over to the front door to grab their shoes. "Oh," she turned to Patrick. "And could you please not stick your head out the window like a dog this time?"
"Hey." Patrick shrugged. "You and Rhubes were the ones that raised me. So If I act like a dog," he gave an evil smile. "It's because I learned it from you."
Riley's and Rhuben's mouths dropped open as Sydney and Noah laughed loudly. Riley pointed at him. "I'm warning you, dude, sleep with your eyes open."
"Yes, ma'am." Patrick smiled.
"Hey guys, we have to get going, Gustavo sent us a text saying we need to get to Rocque Records and-" Kendall said as he walked out f his room to the sitting area of apartment 2J. He stopped and stared when he noticed his friends all standing still in the middle of the room, holding onto a golf club, a hockey stick, and a fly swatter. He then looked around and noticed the holes in the walls of the apartment, his eyes widening. "What happened?!"
"We're trying to kill a fly," Carlos said in a whisper, his eyes slowly moving under the brim of his hockey helmet.
"I can see that," Kendall snapped. "But why are you using a baseball bat and a golf club?"
"Because we ran out of flyswatters," James replied and Logan, who was standing beside him, moved the flyswatter up and down.
Kendall mentally face palmed as he looked around the apartment. He slowly shook his head, his eyes growing wide as he surveyed the damage. Yep, his mother was going to kill him. His phone buzzed in his hand and he remembered why it was that he wanted to get the guys' attention in the first place.
"Right, guys we need to get to Rocque Records," Kendall put his phone back into his pocket. "Gustavo says that he and Kelly have something really important to tell us."
"Like what?" James asked as he put down his hockey stick.
"I don't know," Kendall shook his head. "But his text wasn't in caps, so I guess that means he's not mad at us for anything." He added as an afterthought. "Which is really unlike him, but if he's in a good mood, I'm going to take advantage of it."
"Then we should probably get going now." Logan agreed, putting down his fly swatter. He turned to James and Carlos, placing his hands on his hips and giving him a hard stare. James and Carlos looked at each other, disappointment evident on their faces before they reluctantly tossed the baseball bat and hockey stick onto the couch.
"You ruin all the fun," Carlos complained, lightly kicking at the ground.
"Yeah, you're such a fun sucker." James agreed.
"I am not a fun sucker!" Logan denied.
"Yeah, you kind of are," Kendall said and patted Logan on the shoulder. "But that's ok, because we love you anyway." He laughed and waved an arm, leading the guys out of the apartment. They walked the short walk to the PalmWoods, stopping to sign autographs for a couple of people, before they headed inside and sat down on the couches in the waiting area before Kelly came and got them.
Kendall tilted his head back, closing his eyes as he thought about what he could possibly do to make sure that his mother didn't kill them. He could always butter her up with flowers and a gift, but she usually saw right through that. Besides, it wasn't like they could hide the holes in the wall anyway; even someone that was completely blind would be able to see them. There was no way around it this time, they were definitely dead.
"Hey Mopey McMopster, what's wrong?" Kendall opened his eyes to see Riley leaning over the top of the couch, looking down into his face. "You look like you've just lost your best friend." She remarked.
"How's that possible?" Kendall smiled. "You're right there."
"Thanks for that, Kendork." Riley pushed herself up and walked around him, holding her fist out and the two did their secret handshake before she sat down on the couch next to James, pulling her feet up onto the cushions as she leaned into his side. He smiled and put an arm around her. Kendall frowned. "I needed an ego boost today."
"So what happened?" Rhuben asked as she and her brothers sat down on the empty spaces of the couches as well, she leaned into James's other side. If it was possible, James's mega-watt smile got even brighter.. She peered closely at Knedall. "You really do look like you're going to die."
"These turds over here," Kendall pointed at James, Carlos, and Logan as he sat up straight in his chair. "Though that it was a good idea to try and kill a fly with a hockey stick and a golf club."
"In my defense, I was using the flyswatter." Logan piped up.
"It's not that hard to fix a wall," Sydney snorted, rolling his eyes. "All you need is sandpaper, a putty knife, spackle, a wall hole, patch, and a wet sponge of spray bottle, a wall texture spray, paint, and a paintbrush." He started to count off on his fingers. "Then you just clean and square up the hole with a saw or knife, find a piece of wood long enough to fill in the hole, use drywall screws to secure the wood, find a scrap piece of drywall and cut it to fit the hole, screw it to the wood that is now behind it, plaster it, sand it, prime it, paint it, and kiss the hole-"he made a smacking sound with his mouth. "Goodbye."
"You make it sound so easy, Syd," Kendall said with a slight eye roll.
"No." James laughed. "He makes it sound like he's needed to do it before."
"With those two around." Sydney pointed to his older brothers. "You learn how to do it quickly."
"What are you guys doing here anyway?" Carlos asked, tilting his head to the side and resting his cheek on his hand. His helmet slid down over his face and he made no move to fix it. "I thought that you weren't doing anything, like all day."
"You're right." Rhuben nodded. "But Ronan said that we needed to come to Rocque Records because he and Gustavo had something that they needed to tell us." She cracked her knuckles before dropping them into her lap. "I assume that's why you lot are here as well?"
The boys nodded in reply.
Everyone got up when they noticed Kelly walking over to them, a bright smile on her face. She looked as put together as usual, sometimes the guys were positive that throughout the day she went to the bathroom to change her clothes/make sure she looked good; because dealing with Gustavo all the time caused people a lot of stress and that would make them care less about their appearance. Kelly seemed to be the only person that could deal with Gustavo's antics, she was the only one that seemed to be able to work with Gustavo for more than a year, and it would probably take a lot for her to be scared away from him.
"Hey, how's everyone doing today?" She asked.
"We're fine, Kelly, thanks for asking." Noah replied with a smile and a nod.
"You're welcome," Kelly hitched up the folders that were in her arms. "I'm sure that you guys are wondering why you're here, I won't leave you in suspense anymore." She turned on her heel. "Follow me."
Kelly led them to Gustavo's office and when they got inside, they noticed that Ronan was there as well, standing behind Gustavo, his hands in his jeans pockets. Ronan McGuire was the Jacksons' manager and music producer as well as their newly adoptive father. He was Gustavo's complete opposite as Ronan was very patient, kind, and laid-back, though he knew when to be serious. Somehow, the two managed to get along, though with outwards appearances (their constant bickering with each other) many people wouldn't think so.
"Hey guys," Ronan greeted Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James as they stood in front of Gustavo's desk.
"Hey," James replied, accompanied with a slight nod. "So, what's up?"
"Dogs, I'm going to cut to the chase," Gustavo said as he stood up. He put his hands behind his back and started to pace back and forth behind his desk. "You've been doing a good job with your music. I can admit that, but you can do better as well." He nodded once. "I can admit that too. You never listen to me and you don't take authority very well-"
"I thought that we were supposed to be getting news, not be berated." Logan said as he raised a hand.
"Quiet, you!" Gustavo snapped. Logan immediately snapped his mouth shut, miming locking his mouth and throwing away the key for added effect. Two years with Gustavo and he still got scared of the man. "Now, like I was saying, you don't respect me," he then pointed half-heartedly over at Ronan as his upper lip curled. "But for some unfathomable reason, you respect him."
Ronan rolled his eyes as the DarkElements snickered lightly. He cleared his throat. "And while I don't necessarily condone the way that Gustavo runs things, the fact that he's willing to do whatever it takes to help you guys-"
"-And get Griffin off my back," Gustavo continued.
Ronan ignored him. "Shows a lot about his character. So, we thought that it would be a good idea if we tried to put our strengths together."
"Meaning?" Patrick's right eyebrow rose. "Oh, I know." He gave a lop-sided smile. "You guys are going to try and overthrow all the other record companies in LA."
"No," Kelly said shortly. She lightly rolled her eyes as Patrick shrugged, un-offended. "They might become partners in the Record Company. Starting with your two bands," she said, holding out her hands to Big Time Rush and the DarkElements. "We don't know if it's going to happen this year, but we wanted you to know what's in store for the future of your bands. And we're making sure we have the changing trends in the industry covered"
"So what does that mean, exactly?" Riley asked, scratching the side of her neck. "Scheduling and performance wise. I mean, considering we're taking a break."
"Oh, not much is going to change," Ronan reassured her. He placed a hand on his chest. "You're still going to be under Blazing Phoenix Records and work for me, and you can still help Gustavo and the guys if and when they need it, but still not under a contract, really. It means that your public appearances, press conferences, and interviews are now going to be more with BTR than by yourselves now."
"Also," Gustavo held up a finger. "We want you guys to write more songs together." He turned to his desk and picked up a large stack of paper. "It's all spelled out in these." Kelly took it from Gustavo and handed it over to Logan to look over.
Logan didn't have to take long to look them over; of course he was going to sign it. The one thing that they wanted for their band was to be able to work with some of the biggest names in the industry, the people that they had looked up to for years, watching their videos, and listening to their music over and over again. Working even closer with their best friends was even better than that. But at the same time, they were trying to make a name for themselves; they were going to announce their plans for a third album soon, so how was this going to help them?
"Cool," James's eyes lit up. "Where do we sign?" He asked with a grin.
"Do we have time to get something to eat before the hockey game?" Camille asked as she lightly rubbed her stomach, looking on hungrily as she and her friends passed an Auntie Anne's in the mall's food court. "I'm hungry." Her stomach growled as if to emphasize her point, causing her to blush.
That night, Big Time Rush was going to be participating in a charity hockey match. It was originally Kendall's idea; he was the one that went to Gustavo saying that he and the guys were slightly annoyed that they had to give up what was their life back in Minnesota to become a band. So after a lot of consideration and talking with Kelly (as well as yelling at the boys) Gustavo realized that it could bring in a lot of attention to the band. So now, about once a month or once every two months, the guys were able to play in a hockey game, with the proceeds from ticket sales going to any charity that they chose. All of their friends were going to attend the game that night.
"Oh yeah, we have plenty of time," Stephanie said. She looked at her watch. "The game doesn't start for another hour and a half." She turned to their other companions, Lizzie Zevon, Katie, and Riley and Rhuben. "So we have plenty of time."
Riley craned her neck to look at a mannequin as they passed a store. She slowed to a stop. "Hey wait up, let me check this tore for a minute." She called to the other girls before they crowded inside the front of the store. "And to answer your question, we haven't talked about it yet; he's been too busy getting ready for the hockey game tonight."
"I still can't believe that you guys are forcing me to go," Lizzie grumbled as she rested her arms on the top of a rack of clothes. "I'm not that big a fan of hockey. I find it boring and barbaric if you ask me."
"Yeah, but the guys are your friends too, so you should support them." Katie reminded her. "Even if we have to bound and gag you to get you there."
"Now there's an idea," Rhuben smiled teasingly.
Lizzie reached out and smacked her on the arm as she rolled her eyes. She then turned to watch as Riley picked out a pair of overall jean shorts from the rack and held them up, looking them over. Jo's eyes lit up. "Those would be so cute on you, Riles." She said. "What's the occasion?"
"Uh, hello?" Rhuben waved a hand in front of Lizzie's face. The leather wristbands that she was wearing, jingling together as they shook back and forth on her arm with her movements. Her blue eyes narrowed slightly. "It's for the party after the hockey game."
"I thought that you were just wearing your hockey jerseys," Camille said. "You know," she added nonchalantly. "Unless you're superficially dressing up for someone..."
Stephanie laughed. In their group of friends, BTR, DE, Jo, Camille, Stephanie, Katie, Dak, WayneWayne, and Dak's little sister, Lizzie, Jo and Camille were well known for being the 'matchmakers' of their group, with Jo being the real ring-leader. The two girls gossiped about boys around the PalmWoods pool so much that they started to set people up, whom they thought would be good together. Unfortunately for everyone else, that meant that the two girls' opinions on their love lives should be expected.
"You really should have seen that coming," Stephanie said as the twin girls rolled their eyes and Katie laughed.
"Ok, well let's at least figure out what we're wearing so we don't worry about wearing the same thing." Camille relented.
"Ugh," Katie rolled her eyes. "Do we have to?" She asked, busying herself with lightly tugging on a hanger that was on the rack beside her.
She wasn't even looking at the clothes that it contained. Katie wasn't the kind of girl that particularly enjoyed going shopping or talking about clothes; but she liked to be included. She also liked being able to hang out with the girls every now and then, it at least kept her from having to deal with the guys' constant stupidity.
"Yes, we do," Lizzie said with a nod. "Because if we want to look fabulous, we don't want to look the same." She them motioned over to Riley and Rhuben. "Besides, only those two can pull it off."
"Thank you," the twin girls chorused.
"But I don't want to talk about that," Katie said and then turned to Riley and smiled evilly. "I want to talk about the bet that I heard about." She said. Camille titled her head to the side as Jo and Stephanie exchanged confused glances. "Apparently Kendall and Riley have a bet going on?"
"A bet about what?" Stephanie asked, pulling her hair behind her ears. "It must be something good if you decided to go along with it."
"Not that I really back down from a challenge anyway," Riley said with a half smile. She sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. "Kendall wants me to teach him how to be a bad-boy. I say that you can't teach it. So we have a bet going on."
"Anyone can help any person win," Rhuben added. "The only thing is that it can't be harmful to any of their careers." She added, crossing her arms over her chest. "Personally, I think this is going to be really entertaining."
"That's because you don't have to listen to Kendall talk all the time." Riley reminded her twin. She then looked at Lizzie, who looked like she was about to burst. "Any particular reason why you're looking at me like that?"
"No reason," Lizzie's smile widened as she shrugged. But the light dance in her eyes let the other girls know that there was something that she wasn't telling them. "No reason at all, I just think that the bet sounds like it could be fun. Anyway, how long does it go for?"
"Don't know," Katie spoke up. "They hadn't specified the whole details about it yet."
"Well, my money's on you," Stephanie said, lightly knocking Riley on her arm. "You know girl power and all that."
"If you want, you could take my place, I'd be glad for you to do it," Riley waved a hand. Stephanie then raised an eyebrow and shook her head, letting her know that it wasn't going to happen.
Rhuben laughed lightly at her twin. She crossed her arms over her chest and bent her head, moving her black hair form her face. "If you didn't want to do it, then why did you agree to the bet in the first place?"
"Well, for one reason, it was so I could get Hockey-Head, to stop talking," Riley said as she held up her index finger. "Because I don't think he has ever since I met him." The girls laughed lightly at her statement. "And two," she smirked, giving the peace sign. "I'm waiting to see the look on his face when I tell him what I have in mind for the loser of the bet."
"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Camille teased.
Riley knew what she was getting at. She thought for a long moment, trying to decide how she wanted to answer the question. Finally, she took the overalls and threw it over her arm. "I'm sure."
Finally, it's time for the hockey game.
Kendall took a deep breath as he and his friends started to walk across the parking lot to the Staples Center. Moms, Dads, and little kids all dressed in hockey gear and wearing face paint moved by him. He turned to James, who had been talking to him about something for the past five minutes, his hands were moving animatedly and his mouth was moving at a mile a minute, but Kendall wasn't listening to a word that he was saying.
It was strange.
It was the first time that he was actually nervous to play a game of hockey. He wasn't sure if it was because of the fact that it was really their first game since they had left Minnesota. Sure, he would practice whenever he would need to clear his head, but he hadn't played anyone in a long time. He hadn't been checked into the boards in a long time, he hadn't had that adrenaline rush run through him, not the same way that working in the band would. He let out a sigh, rubbing his palms on the sides of his jeans, wiping the sweat off as he did so.
"Hold up a second, Hockey-Head." Riley grabbed onto Kendall's arm and pulled him back, causing the two to walk a few paces behind the others. He turned to look at her curiously. Much like the other participants, Riley was wearing a hockey jersey for the game as well. But hers and her siblings were handmade and were in support of Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James. All five of them even had BTR painted on the sides of their faces and the BTR logo on the other side.
Kendall let out a slight sigh through his nose as he shoved his hands into his jean pockets, the weight of his hockey bag digging painfully into his shoulder.
"Why are you so nervous?" Riley's eyes were narrowed slightly, holding a lot of concern.
That was something else that he liked about her (and her siblings for that matter) all five of them were very perceptive, they could usually tell whenever something was wrong with someone, even if it was a few seconds after getting some bad news; no matter how hard they tried to hide it. The fact that they cared so much about their friends and people in general didn't hurt either. He had seen them give up some of their free time just to hang out with some fans that they had bumped into as they had come from overseas to attend a performance that they were going to make.
Kendall's eyebrows furrowed together. How could she tell? He shook his head before looking at her, taking a small step back so he could look down at her. "I'm not nervous," he said as convincingly as possible. "What makes you say that?"
"Well," Riley pointed at his chest. "For one, your jersey is on backwards." Kendall looked down and groaned lightly when he realized that his shirt was in fact on backwards. He dropped his bag to the ground and brought his arms into the sleeves of his shirt to turn it around. He looked away when he picked up his bag and put it over his shoulders again, "And for another, you haven't talked much since we've gotten here, which is saying a lot."
Kendall shrugged, using his shoulder to push his fringe out of his face. "It's not that I'm nervous…" he stalled, trying to figure out what to say.
He didn't know why, but he couldn't admit it. The 'leader' part of him, the 'strong' part of him couldn't let him admit that anything was wrong. He was the one that always stood up for his friends whenever something was going wrong or whenever they were being picked on. He really showed his emotions when it came to injustice, but he was never really that great with expressing his own emotions; not when it made him feel too vulnerable and open. Not when it made him feel like he was less than a man. The bitterness ran through his body; it was something his father tried to teach him years ago. It was probably the only thing that he still kept from his father, other than his hair color, eye color, and facial structure.
"Bullshit," Riley disagreed.
Kendall gave her a half-smile, somewhat grateful that she called his bluff on it. A greater part of him was annoyed, but he was still grateful.
"I don't even see why you're nervous, mate, we've gone through this before," Riley said as she crossed her arms over her chest, after a long minute of looking at him. "You're the freaking captain of your high school's hockey team, since you were a freshman no less. You want to be a player for the Maple Leafs if not the Minnesota Wild. This is just one game, for charity, that's not going to make much of a difference." She shook her head. "I get it, though; you want to be sure that this whole thing is a success."
"You know me too well." Kendall said.
"No," Riley corrected him. "It's the same thing I've said since I first met you; I can see right through you." She looked away. "It's just as well, our bands are close, and I can see everything that's bothering you guys." She added modestly.
Kendall smiled as he looked around at the parking lot. So many more people were streaming into the building, waiting to see him and his friends play. He didn't have a ego about it, Ever since they announced on ScuttleButter and on their group and individual MyFace pages that they were going to be playing in the charity hockey game, they had gotten nothing but comments of how their fans were rooting for them and how some of them were going to see the game. At first, it was flattering, now it just made him even more nervous than he could imagine.
"Kendall, you're going to do fine."
That got his attention. The only times Riley ever called him by his actual name was when she was mad at him or whenever she was being serious. And since he couldn't see any redness in her face, he knew that she wasn't mad.
"How can you be so sure?
Riley shrugged. "How can you not?"
"You're amazing," Kendall reached out and lightly jostled her arm. "You know that?"
"Glad you think so," Riley smirked. "Now, are you ready to kick some ass?"
"Yeah."
"Patrick," Mrs. Knight got Patrick's attention, pointing down the crowded steps. "Our seats are over there," She called. Patrick nodded and gave the peace sign before lightly pushing Noah to move in front of him. Noah started to walk further down the steps, but losing his footing; he tripped and fell down a couple of stairs. Around him, hockey fans let out gasps of worry as he came to a stop.
"Watch your step, the stairs are uneven!" Patrick said loudly to the others as he pointed down at his brother.
"No shit!" Noah shouted back. He got to his feet and roughly brushed off his clothes before reaching over and smacking Patrick on the back of the head.
Katie couldn't help but let out a surprised laugh. She knew that the bad language, which was so rare to come out of Noah's mouth, especially around women, was showing how annoyed he was. "Isn't this so exciting?" She asked as she sat down in her seat and pushed up the sleeves of her sweater. "I haven't watched a hockey game since we left Minnesota."
"You must miss it," Camille remarked as she moved into her spot beside Katie.
"Every now and then," Katie replied with a wave of her hand, her eyes scanning the eyes, waiting for her brother to come out. She gripped a large, neon green poster board sign in her hands. "But it can't beat LA, it has better food, cooler stars, more things to do, you know." She finally turned away from the ice and looked around the stands. All of their friends were there; Patrick, Noah, Sydney, Camille, and Jo took up one row, Riley, Rhuben, Stephanie, Gustavo, Ronan, and Mrs. Knight took up the row behind them. All of them were in support for her brother and their friends.
It was going to be a great game.
"But Minnesota is home, so that's the one thing that LA can't take from me." Katie concluded with a bright smile.
"Speaking of 'home," Lizzie said as she stood up from her seat. "I think Dak is lonely back at home, so I'm just going to go and-"Stephanie reached out and pushed Jo back down onto her seat, causing the blonde to pout and cross her arms over her chest.
"You're going to sit here with the rest of us and support our friends," Stephanie said patiently as she crossed her legs.
"Couldn't I just…support them from home?" Lizzie whined.
"No!" Came the unanimous reply.
The auditorium erupted into cheers as the two teams were announced and the players took the ice. Kati leapt to her feet and cheered loudly as she waved around her My Big Brother is cooler than your Big Brother sign. The Jacksons jumped to their feet and started to wave their signs as well, Mrs. Knight, Ronan, Gustavo, Camille, and Stephanie clapped along with the audience, but Lizzie was the only one that stayed sitting, her chin in her hands, looking completely bored.
The game began with a face-off from James and the center forward from the opposing team and the game way underway. Both teams were evenly matched as the first five minutes blurred by with a lot of back and forths, though no goals had been scored. The game proceeds through the first period and fouls and penalties are flying all over the place from the opposing team. Obviously they had heard of how good Big Time Rush was, and was trying to keep them from scoring anyway that they could think of, by running out the clock. It was working, the first period ended and there was still no score.
"Ugh, they're going to have to play harder if they're going to get that goal," Noah mumbled, his chin in his hands.
"Don't worry," Katie reached over and patted him on the back. "They're going to get it, they're going to win."
"But the other team's defense is good," Patrick reminded her. "They're staying close to the goal and giving up a penalty whenever they can, just so they can make sure that Kendall doesn't get a goal, they're really gunning for him.
"The best bet for them is to get it to Carlos, James, or Logan for a while," Noah added. "They're starting to realize that Kendall is the lead scorer."
"I'm sure that everyone would love to see Carlos get fouled after 'unsportsmanlike roughhousing," Ronan laughed, rubbing his hands together for warmth. "Depending on what that entails these days."
"A trip to the hospital, I'm sure," Mrs. Knight replied with a half smile. "You wouldn't believe how many times I was there in a month back in Minnesota." She turned to speak directly to Gustavo and Ronan. "It got so bad that the hospital staff knew me by name after two weeks."
"Hmm," Gustavo tapped his chin. "Maybe I should add that they can't play hockey to their list of dangerous things that they're not allowed to do."
"Not unless you want to kill them," Mrs. Knight warned him. "Or your company. If you do that, they'll be sure to strike."
"Oh yeah," Ronan rolled his eyes. "That really went over well, last time." He said sarcastically.
The second period quickly drew to a close. 10 seconds left and the fans were starting to become just as frustrated as Big Time Rush felt. Still no goal and things were getting really messy on the court. Kendall hadn't had any free space for the whole period; three people were on him almost at all times. Then the period was over. The fans applaud as the teams make their way back to the locker rooms.
Stephanie ran her hands over her face. "Kendall is getting really frustrated." She muttered. "It's not helping his game play at all."
"I know," Katie groaned. "He's never played this badly before!" She shoved her gloved hands under her armpits to keep them warm. "He must be really nervous. Normally he would be knocking players left and right, now he's being knocked silly."
"It's probably just the nerves after playing their first game in a long time," Camille reassured her, placing her hand on Katie's shoulder. "I'm sure that they can come back and win."
"I hope so," Katie mumbled. Come on, Big Brother. I know that you guys can do this. This is what you lived for, playing in arenas so big, where everyone knows your name. Just think of this as practice for the real thing.
The teams returned to the ice and when Katie spotted her brother skating around, his helmet in his hand, looking up at the stands for his friends, she mentally sent him waves of good luck, hoping that they would reach him. When Kendall spotted his sister, he mustered up a smile and she grabbed her sign and held it up over her head for him to see. Kendall noticed it and laughed; nodding and pointing to her before putting his helmet back on, joining the others as they continued to skate around the rink, warming up once more. The game resumed, still scoreless, and Kendall and the others were definitely starting to play better.
The puck went back and forth across the ice. While the other team continued to gun for Kendall; James, Carlos, and Logan took up the lead for their team and started to take more shots on goal, taking more hits as well. But no matter how hard they tried, even with a few impressive shots by the three boys, there was still no score and it was starting to get late into the third period.
It may end as a tie.
There were now two minutes left of the game.
The guys were tied with their opponents and they had a two-man advantage. By now, everyone in the stands were on their feet, the ones closets to the boards were slamming their hands on the Plexiglas to the rhythm of the rock song that blared in the arena, covered by the screams of the hockey fans. James had the puck, he passed it to Logan who brought it up the rink and was about to shoot but faked it and passed to Carlos. Carlos took a shot on goal, but the puck bounced off the back boards. Kendall broke away from the defenders and swooped around the back of the goal, picking it up and moving back in front of the goalie.
Kendall stopped and stared at the target ahead of him.
"Come on, boys, you have about a minute left, you can do it!" Mrs. Knight yelled loudly.
"Is it time to go home yet?" Lizzie asked. She finally tore her eyes away from her phone, which she had been engrossed in since the game practically started. Every now and then, Katie would whack her on the arm, getting her attention for when she had to cheer for her friends. Lizzie glanced around the ice and then looked up at the scoreboard. "Guess not," she said and then became engrossed in her phone once more.
BANG! A player slammed into the boards in front of them, startling Lizzie enough to jump and let out a loud shriek. She blushed as her friends laughed.
"That'll teach you to watch the game," Sydney said as he lowered his sign from over his head. He laughed before patting Lizzie on the arm. "It's not that bad, Lil Bit, come stand next to me." Lizzie sighed as she stood up with her friends. "Come on, it's the last few minutes, and it's a tie. We need them to get a goal; your support will really help."
"I just never got the appeal of people getting smashed into the walls of the rink." She muttered.
"Are you kidding?" Rhuben cried. "I mean," she motioned to herself and her sister. "We don't really get the rules of hockey or whatever, but watching people get hurt is the best part!"
"It's the only reason we'll brave the cold." Riley added.
"COME ON, GUYS!" Katie screamed, bouncing up and down on her toes.
She climbed up onto the bench and started to jump harder when she saw that her brother had the puck and was making a breakaway towards the goal. Logan, James, and Carlos shoved opposing team members out of their way as they skated up, trying to foul Kendall before he could get a shot. With 20 seconds left, Kendall faked right, then faked left, and shot the puck to the right side of the goalie.
The whole crowd stopped to watch the red light go off meaning they scored.
Then the final buzzer rang meaning it was the end of the game.
The whole crowd was screaming.
Big Time Rush had won.
The group waited for the crowd to diminish before they made their way from their seats to go congratulate their friends. Gustavo saw them first and cheered loudly for them, causing their friends to erupt into cheers as they walked down the hallway from the locker room. Jo, Camille, and Stephanie cheered loudly, bouncing up and down on their toes as they cheered. Ronan whistled through his laps as he clapped along with them.
The four Minnesota boys blushed at the attention, but they were pleased by all of the attention that they were getting.
"GREAT JOB, DOGS!" Gustavo shouted loudly, punching the air with his fists. "Now I, kinda, sorta, get why you guys love this game so much." He reached out and slapped Carlos on the shoulder so hard that it almost knocked him over. "Good job."
"Thanks Gustavo," Carlos replied before grabbing Stephanie in a hug, spinning her around.
"Good game, Carlos." Stephanie smiled warmly at him, squeezing him around the shoulders once more.
"Thanks Steph." Carlos smiled back.
"Kendall!" Katie cheered as she sprang towards her brother and gave him a hug around the waist. "Great job!" She cheered. She laughed as Kendall picked her and gave her a loud kiss on the cheek before giving her a hug back. "You did an amazing job!"
"Congratulations sweetie," Mrs. Knight added, leaning over and giving her son a kiss on his dimpled cheek. She then gave him a warm hug, looking at him with nothing but pride in her eyes. "I'm so proud of you."
"Thanks, Mom." Kendall gave her a hug back.
"Nice job, guys!" Patrick and Noah chorused as they gave each of the guys a high-five. Noah then moved his hair out of his face. "I really thought that it was going to go into overtime." He grinned. "But you really pulled it out in the end. It was beauty!"
"We're seriously, so proud of you guys." Rhuben added her hands clasped together in front of her. "I don't think we could have seen a better game if it was done by professionals." She flipped her hair over her shoulders and nodded. "Really, great job."
"I told you that you were going to do great," Riley added. She gave Kendall a high-five. He was surprised for a moment, but happy nonetheless. Due to hers and her siblings' past abuse, it was sometimes hard for them to be able to receive hugs or high-fives without flinching at the sudden movement. It happened every now and then, but they found that it was better if the Jacksons initiated it first. "And you did, you were nervous over nothing."
"And you were right," Kendall agreed. "Thanks for the help."
"What?" James held out his arms teasingly towards the girls. "You're not going to give me a hug for congratulations?"
Rhuben shied away from him. "Uh, no you're sweaty." She replied, flipping her hair over her shoulders. "After a concert, that's fine, but after playing a game, no thank you."
"I'm sorry," Kendall placed a finger to his chin. "I was under the impression that girls loved it when guys were covered in sweat." He grinned and high-fived Carlos, Logan, James, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney as they laughed.
"Oh yeah, Hockey-Head," Riley said sarcastically. "I love you so much when you're covered in sweat, really, it's such a turn-on." She then mimicked him by giving the girls and over-the-top high-five, causing everyone to laugh,
"Do you want to see our signs?" Sydney asked, holding up the cardboard poster that he was holding onto. He wiggled it around, showing off the writing: James is our Diamond in the rough. "I made this one!"
"We'll check it out later at the party when we have the time," Logan said with a warm smile.
"Oh, Kendall, we didn't tell you," Stephanie gave Kendall a cheesy smile as she held out a piece of paper to him. "A girl behind us wanted you to have her phone number, so you two could go out on a date." Kendall took it and held it in his fist. "You should go; you haven't been on a date in forever."
Kendall winced slightly. He and Jo were friends, that was true, but it was awkward between them for a while when they had broken up and she would call or video chat to see how he was doing. They had broken up for a reason, they started to fight a lot before she left, and he knew that she hoped things would go back to normal, but it hadn't. It took a while for them to get back to where they were about being friends, though there was still an air of tension around them from time to time.
"Sorry," Kendall gave an apologetic shrug. "Dating people that I'm not friends with first isn't really my thing." He jumped as James reached over and grabbed onto the paper, quickly turning to punch it into his phone.
"You're hopelessly romantic." Lizzie said, reassuring him.
"Or just plain hopeless." Katie cracked.
"It's cute," Camille insisted.
"Thanks for that," Logan rolled his eyes. "Now his ego is going to get even bigger with that compliment." He then rubbed his hands together. "Who's ready to go back to the apartment and have some fun at our victory party?"
"How'd you know it was a victory party?" Patrick asked. He gave a teasing smile. "It could be a 'sorry-you-lost-but-we're-throwing-a-party-for-you-anyway-party." He pointed out.
"Yeah, but we never lose." James clapped him on the shoulder and led the others to go to the parking lot. Carlos started to follow, but then noticed that Rhuben was walking slower than the others, not looking as excited as the others were.
He turned and jumped right into Rhuben's path, causing her to blink rapidly and then look at him strangely. Carlos beamed at her, holding his arms out for a hug, then slowly lowered his arms when she didn't move. "What's wrong?" Carlos asked, his smile wilting when he noticed that Rhuben hadn't smiled. "You looked annoyed. We just won our game, aren't you excited?"
"I am annoyed," she replied with a short sigh. "But I am happy for you guys," she shook her head. "It's nothing," she said finally. "Just a decision that Ronan made earlier today that I don't necessarily agree with. I can't stop thinking about it, as pathetic as that is."
"What's up?" Carlos asked, widening his eyes a little.
Rhuben hesitated a moment before speaking. "Well, now that Riles and I are older and he knows that there's a good chance that we might take a break with our band to pursue college or whatever," she waved a hand. "We haven't decided yet," she explained quickly. "He wants me to learn how to play the guitar."
Carlos wasn't sure how the two went together and his face showed it. "So?" he asked.
Rhuben let out a patient sigh. "So, he wants me and Riles, for now and the next CD when we come off our break, I guess, to be the center focus of the band. And he wants me to learn how to play the guitar so we can use some of our shows from now until then to get used to it. For whatever reason, the kids agree with it. And they all know that the two of us HATE to be the center of attention or having a lot of attention on us at all!" She slapped her hands down to her sides. "That's why our band is so good, we don't have one front man, and we have five!" She crossed her arms over her chest. "Plus, he wants us to try and become role models, which is a load of crap."
"Why?"
"Why would someone want a bunch of kids who lied about their abuse for years as a role model?" She scratched the side of her neck. "I'm not saying that Ronan's wrong, because when he says he knows what he's talking about, he knows what he's talking about and I have to give him mad respect for that. But it was like when Riles and I had to change our dance style a little from power moves to more...girlish ones. It bothered me at first, since I don't believe in dancing a certain way to be considered...appealing." She paused for a moment. "But now I like it fine, but we had so many people calling us 'fake' when that happened, what if they do it now?"
"Rhubes," Carlos grabbed onto her hands and lightly rocked them back and forth. "If there was any word to describe you or your brothers and sister, 'fake' would be the last one I would use. You guys are probably the most down to earth and caring people I've ever met.' He then looked thoughtful. "You also lie a lot, you don't like authority, you do some bad things, you talk back-"
"I get the point." Rhuben interrupted him.
"Right," Carlos nodded. "But you're not fake. And if you have fans that'll leave you for changing the image of your band a little, then they weren't fans to begin with." He placed on of his hands on his chest. "But I'm your fan and your friend and I'll support you no matter what. Now," he held out his arm. "Are you ready to party?"
"Try and stop me," Rhuben laughed, hooking her arm through his. "Thanks CareBear."
"You're welcome, Rhubes."
As the victory party winded down and the guests started to go home, Kendall, Logan, James, Carlos, Katie, Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney were all gathered on the orange couch or sitting on the floor, talking quietly. The party had lasted for about five hours after the game had ended and it was getting very close to midnight. Camille and Stephanie had left earlier, after congratulating the boys on their win again. Dak, WayneWayne, and Lizzie had stopped by for a few hours, getting the guys to tell them about the game all over again. Even the Jennifers and the other inhabitants of the PalmWoods came by. Bitters arrived at one point, but rather than enjoying the party, he seemed to be more preoccupied with the free food that was there, taking more than half of it with him when the left.
Kendall smiled as he looked around the apartment. They had won the game and now they were just hanging out at the crib with their best friends, life couldn't get any better than that. He looked over at Riley, who was sitting next to and talking animatedly to Carlos; suddenly remembering the bet. They had agreed that after the hockey game they were going to start, and they needed to lay down some ground rules, so why not start then.
Kendall got to his feet and walked to the room that he and Logan shared. He went over to his desk and grabbed a notebook and flipped through it, looking for an empty page to use. Guilt filled his body when he realized that there was some homework that he had neglected to do. Logan had already told him that he wasn't going to help him catch up, and his mother was already starting to get on his case about his grades and he promised that he was going to pull them up. But with the excitement of that weekend and working on their band…he had forgotten about it.
That's what he was going to tell her anyway.
Kendall returned to the living room and sat down on the couch, putting the paper and pencil on the table before writing a header on the paper for their bet. "So, we need to finalize the rules of our bet." He said, getting the other's attention. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous when he watched Carlos make Riley laugh.
She doesn't laugh at my jokes like that.
"Can't this wait until tomorrow?" Katie asked, her hands on her knees, her legs crossed. "I mean, you guys just won your hockey game."
"Yeah, and I'm going to win this too." Kendall insisted. "So it's good that we figure this out now."
"And you say that you don't have an ego when you win something?" James asked. He rolled his eyes and moved his finger around his head in the same fashion, causing Carlos and the Jacksons to burst out laughing. Carlos laughed the loudest. "Aren't you tired?"
"Not tired enough to lose, obviously." Riley sighed and leaned over, grabbing the pen from Kendall's hand.
"Alright, so, how long do we have for the bet to run?" Kendall asked.
Riley thought for a moment, tapping her pen against her hand. "A couple of months?" She suggested. "I mean, why draw it out so long?"
Kendall's eyebrows rose in disbelief. "That's almost no time."
"But that could work as an advantage or a disadvantage to both of you," James pointed out.
Kendall ignored James as he studied Riley's face, looking for a sign that she was about to laugh or smile. To show him that she was only kidding. "Come on, I know you're not serious."
"You see, one of your many problems, Hockey-Head," Riley turned her pen around and pointed it at him. "Is that you think you know me far better than you actually do. Because, as it happens," she stared hard at him, the direct eye-contract causing him to look away. "I'm being entirely serious."
"Ok, fine." Kendall grumbled and then watched as she wrote it down. "But, what is the ultimate prize going to be?" He rubbed his hands together. "It has to be good if we're going to be working on it for this long."
"Good point," Riley agreed in a murmur. She tilted her head to the side, tapping her cheek with the pen.
Kendall quickly looked away; he couldn't contain the flutters in his stomach. Sometimes all she had to do was tilt her head in a certain way and he was gone.
An evil grin slowly slid onto Riley's face. "I got an idea."
"Why does that not surprise me?" Kendall asked, calming himself down with a deep breath. "What is it?"
"The loser has to be other person's slave for a week," Riley said as casually as if she was saying that the wind was blowing outside. "That means they have to do the other person's chores, they have to fetch them whatever they want, when they want it," she held up her hands. "Within reason of course, they have to carry the other person's bag when they need it…and clean up after them."
"You might as well take off the last one," Noah commented as he shook his head. "Because you're really clean and Carlos always cleans up after Kendall."
"Carlitos, has anyone ever told you that you have a tendency to be too nice?" Rhuben asked. She half-smiled when Carlos merely shrugged in reply.
"Basically, whoever loses is the other person's slave, and they have to do whatever the other person says for a week." Noah's eyes scanned the list in front of them. "I think that's everything."
"Is it possible that we can add in there, if there's something going on with a friend, or a family member, or something really important with our bands gets in the way, we can postpone the bet for that reason?" Kendall asked, resting his chin in his hands. "I mean, say, Mom needs my help with something or something is wrong with Katie." He suggested. "Or something is up with our friends. I'd like to be able to help them with that."
"Yeah, yeah, that's fine." Riley said quickly. Kendall noticed the change in her demeanor, but didn't call her out on it. "I think that's everything." She leaned forward and signed her name at the bottom before turning the paper around for Kendall to sign.
"Now you guys need to sign it," Kendall said as he picked up the pen and paper and handed it to Carlos, who looked bewildered.
"Why do we have to sign it?" He asked his eyes growing wide with panic. "Are we singing our lives away to be slaves too?"
"No," Logan laughed. "What they mean is that we're acting as witnesses," he explained patiently. "If there are any problems with a potential breaking of the rules, then we, as witnesses, have to figure out whether or not a punishment is justifiable."
"Exactly," Rhuben agreed. "And because part of the whole bet is that we can help whomever we want, technically we're all in on the bet too." She lightly shook her head. "I think this whole thing is stupid, just for the record." She added.
"No problem," James took the paper and pen from Carlos and started to scribble his name down. "I'm still hoping that you win, Riles, because if you do, it should knock Kendall down a peg when it comes to him being such a winning freak."
"Thanks James," Kendall grabbed onto James's shoulder and squeezed tightly. "Thanks a lot."
"So you guys said that you were going to officially start this after the hockey game," Patrick said with an eager smile on his face as he took the pen and paper and quickly scribbled his name illegibly, much like he would do if he was signing an autograph. "What's your first lesson going to be?"
"I'm curious to know that, myself." Logan agreed, resting his elbows on his knees, watching to make sure that everyone signed the rules.
"Ugh," Rhuben rolled her eyes. "We told you before, there's not anything that you can actually teach about it. So there's really no 'first thing' and 'last thing' that you need to know." She used air-quotes around the words. She grinned evilly. "But what I can tell you is, no matter who loses, I'm going to enjoy watching them being the other person's slave."
Riley smirked and nodded in agreement to her sister's statement before her eyes wandered over to Kendall. She wondered how it was possible that of all of the boyfriends that she had, or guys that she was interested in, it was her best friend that was the only one that managed to give her butterflies.
A/N: Whew, long chapter. Starting next chapter it's going to go back and forth from Kendall's POV to Riley's POV. Not sure if there's really going to be a side-plot or not, I think the story would be better without one, honestly. But I'm thinking of doing a Racy side-plot if not little scenes of them throughout the story.
And so you all know, I have this planned on being 20 chapters if not shorter due to chapter length, so 20 at the most. I hope you guys like it so far.
I'll update again soon.
Cheers,
-Riles