Disclaimer: If I ruled the world, Logan, James, Carlos, and Kendall would be mine. Since they aren't, well…you know the drill. (sighs) I also don't own Jessica's speech from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. I'm only borrowing it for this story because I love it and it works for Katie's personality. ;)
Superman
Summary: Katie has always looked up to her big brother. But when tragedy strikes, will she be able to move on without him?
Shippers: James/Katie; Logan/Camille; Kendall/OC
A/N: I AM SO SORRY! I finally got this chapter finished, and you guys probably hate me or forgotten my story by now. Heh! I know that I took too long to post this, but writer's block and school got the best of me. So please accept this chapter as my apology for making you wait so long. I promise to get the other chapters to you sooner. And thank you ALL so much for the reviews! They make me and my muse very happy and push us to continue to write this story for you.
I am so excited for this chapter! It gets the story going with Katie graduating high school and entering the real world. And before you guys ask, no, Jo will not be in this story. I have other plans for Kendall and his love life and it doesn't involve Jo. So please don't throw stuff at me for that. (ducks from the flying tomatoes) Honestly I love Jo, but where this story is going I won't need her. At least not yet. (winks)
I've also noticed that you guys want me to continue with Kendall/Katie moments. Well, guess what? There are plenty to come and trust me, they'll be as cute as the prologue.
Okay enough from me. Back to the story! So, I'll just…go over here and…shut up. Ahem…Enjoy guys! :)
Chapter 1: Graduation Day
"It's okay to be scared." -Superman
10 years later…
"Welcome Parents and Family to the Palm Woods School Graduation! Please take your seats and we will begin momentarily. Thank you!"
Katie looked around as she watched other students' families file into their seats. She saw her mom sitting up front carefully keeping watch over the empty seats she was saving for her brother and his friends. She also had seats saved for Gustavo, Kelly, and Freight Train in case they decide to show up which Katie knew they would. She considered them family as well with all the time they spent together.
Katie smiled at her mom and then went back to keeping an eye out for Kendall, James, Logan, and Carlos. "Those guys better show up on time or there will be serious consequences for those jerks." Katie mumbled to herself.
"Katie, will you relax? They'll show up. You know the guys won't let you down." Tyler exclaimed.
Katie shot him a glare. "Relax? How in the world am I supposed to relax, Tyler?! My brother and his friends aren't here, the graduation ceremony is about to start, and I have no idea if I'll be able to make it through my valedictorian speech that I spent two weeks practicing with Logan's help. Relaxing is definitely NOT option right now, okay!" She hissed angrily.
Tyler put his hands up defensively. "Okay, okay. I was just trying to help. Yeesh!" Katie shook her head at him and sighed.
A hand rested on Katie's tense shoulder. Katie jumped at the touch and looked to see it was Kyle. "Relax, K. You're getting too tense about this." agreed Kyle.
Katie sighs at her two best friends and rolled her eyes. "You're right, guys. I just need to calm down and not think about the fact that I'm going to kill my brother and his idiot friends if they are late for my graduation and I end up making a complete ass of myself when I give my speech." Katie replied sarcastically. "Yeah, I got NOTHING to worry about."
Kyle and Tyler just shook their heads in defeat. She sighed and looks back to see the seat saved for her big brother was still empty. Kyle looked back over at Katie and put his arm around her shoulder. She leaned into his embrace letting his attempt at comforting her calm her down. "It's gonna be okay, Katie. Kendall will be here and so will the other guys. So don't give up on them yet." He reassured her with smile.
Katie smiled back and gently kisses him on the cheek. "Thanks, Kyle."
"No problem, K." Kyle leans in and gives her hug knowing he somewhat cheered her up. The only thing or person who could put a smile on her face right now is her big brother. And until he shows up, the only thing Katie will be feeling is utter disappointment. He didn't know how Kendall could make Katie smile, but he knew that Kendall was the only cure to the Katie-Bear blues as James would call it.
After hugging Kyle, Katie turned back around sadly. The seat was still empty. Katie sighed. "Kendall knows how important this is for me. Where the hell is he?"
~*~*~*~*~*~o0-0o~*~*~*~*~*~
"Man, Katie is going to kill me…" Kendall thought to himself. This was not how he wanted his day to go. His baby sister was finally graduating high school and they were going to be late because James ran out of Cuda spray. He should have just told James where he hid his extra can. It would have saved them the trip to the store to buy more. It would also have saved them from Logan's agonizingly slow driving.
"Logan, can you PLEASE drive FASTER! We're gonna be late for Katie's graduation!" Carlos yelled worriedly.
"Carlos, I'm driving as fast as can without going past the speed limit." Logan explained in a calm manner.
Kendall checks the speed limit sign as they passed it. "The speed limit's 55 and you're going 20 miles under it! And I don't think the drivers behind us are going to take it much longer." The cars behind them began honking at them incessantly.
"Well, it's better to be safe than sorry, okay!" Logan shouted back. The guys groaned. "We're not gonna make it on time." James exclaimed sadly.
"Katie is going to kill us for sure now." Carlos whimpered. Kendall sighs as he leans back against his seat. He looks out the window focusing on the building they drive by as he keeps himself from jumping out of his seat and beating the hell out of Logan. He knew they were going to miss the beginning part of the graduation. He only hoped that they didn't miss Katie's speech. She was going to need her big brother and he wasn't going to let her down now.
~*~*~*~*~*~o0-0o~*~*~*~*~*~
An hour later…
"I am going to KILL those idiots." Katie murmured quietly. She couldn't believe they missed half of her graduation. It was getting close to the time for her to give her valedictorian speech. She suddenly started to feel nervous again. It was like living second grade all over again. This time, it wasn't her class of 15 students she was presenting to. It was the entire senior class, all the families of her schoolmates, the teachers, the assistant principals, the guidance counselors, the principal, and the Superintendant. That was more than she could handle in one day.
It definitely seemed a lot easier when she practiced with Logan. Of course, he helped her through it and it was only him in the room. She looked up to see the principal was almost finished handing out diplomas. Her heart began to pound nervously against her chest. Her palms became increasingly sweaty and her breathing became heavier. Katie had never been this nervous before.
She looked out into the crowd one more time to see if her brother and his friends had finally showed up. The seats were still empty which meant a slow and painful death when they did finally show their not-so-innocent faces. Katie groaned as she slid back against her seat slowly.
"Now, ladies and gentleman, it is time for the senior class valedictorian to give her speech. Katie Knight, the podium is all yours." said the Principal as smiled at her.
Katie gulped and smiled nervously. She stood up and walked over to the podium, fumbling with her index cards. She took one last look in the crowd hoping her brother would magically showed up in a puff of smoke. When she didn't see him, Katie sighed and looked down at the cards in her hand. It was now or never.
"Uh…um…W-When we w-were…" Katie clears her throat nervously. "When we were…When we were…"
She swallowed nervously as she glanced around the auditorium. Her entire body immediately had the urge to turn and run, but for some reason she couldn't move a muscle. Let alone make a step away from the podium. She couldn't do this. She couldn't give her speech without Kendall there. She needed her big brother. She needed her Superman. She just needed to see him so her nerves would calm and so she could get through this nightmare of a speech.
Katie continued to glance around at everybody silently until she saw him. He was trying quietly to get the seats his mother saved for him and his best friends without causing too much noise and trouble. Logan and Carlos were tripping on each other as they followed Kendall to the seats. James looked over at her with a smile and waved. Katie waved back and giggled as she watched James grab Carlos and Logan off each other. She smiled happily and felt her body finally relax.
She waited for him to sit down before she started to give her speech again. Kendall looked up at her and smiled. It was that smile that took away all the nervousness and fear she felt seconds ago. Katie smiled back as she began her speech.
"When we were five, they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. Our answers were things like astronaut, president, or in my case…princess. When we were ten, they asked us again and we answered—rock star, cowboy, or in my case, an entertainment manager. But now that we've grown up, they want a serious answer. Well, how 'bout this: Who the hell knows?!
"This isn't the time to make hard and fast decisions. It's time to make mistakes. Take the wrong train and get stuck somewhere chill. Fall in love—a lot. Major in philosophy 'cause there's no way to make a career out of that. Change your mind. Then change it again because nothing is permanent. So make as many mistakes as you can. That way, someday, when they ask again what we want to be…we won't have to guess. We'll know." Katie smiled as she looked at her big brother smiling proudly back at her.
"Congrats, guys! We did it!" Katie threw her cap in the air along with her classmates as everyone applauded and cheered. She looked around the auditorium to see everyone smiling and shedding tears of joy. Katie looked down to see Tyler and Kyle shouting and whistling up at her. Then, she looked to see her mom smiling proudly at her while wiping her tears.
She went down the line to see Gustavo and Kelly waving at her, Carlos shouting and fist pumping in the air, Logan giving her two thumbs up while mouthing "Great job" to her, James smiling at her while clapping, and lastly, Kendall smiling and clapping as he shed happy tears for her and mouthed "I love you, baby sis." Katie mouthed back "I love you too, big bro" and blew a kiss towards him. Kendall played along and blew one back after catching hers.
~*~*~*~*~*~o0-0o~*~*~*~*~*~
After everyone was done clapping and cheering, the principal asked the graduates to stand up and begin exiting the auditorium. Soon after, everyone else left to greet the graduates. Katie waited outside until she saw her family come out. When she did, she ran over to them ready to hug each one.
Katie hugged her mother first before she hugged everyone else. "I am so proud of you, sweetheart. My baby girl's all grown up." Her mom exclaimed happily.
Katie smiled and rolled her eyes. "Mom, you know that I'll always be your little girl no matter how old I get."
"I know, sweetie." Her mom pulls away and smiles. "I just can't believe that all my babies are now grown up and don't need me anymore." Tears begin to rim her mom's eyes again.
"Aw, Mom…I'll never stop needing you." Katie says with a smile. Her mom nods as tears spill out of her eyes and she kisses the top of Katie's head before hugging her again.
After her mom pulls away again, Katie turns her attention to a hyper Carlos. She giggles as Carlos runs over and picks her up, spinning her around. "Carlos! Put me down, you crazy mooch!" she shouted in between laughs.
Carlos laughed as he put her down and hugged her warmly. "I can't believe my Kit-Kat finally graduated high school! This is so awesome!" He squeezed her a little tighter.
"Carlos…c-can't…b-br-breathe…" She gasped as Carlos hugged her tightly.
"Oh, sorry, Kit-Kat!" Carlos let go of her so she could breathe again.
Katie chuckled as she caught her breath and smiled softly. "It's okay, Carlitos. No harm done."
Carlos smiled and hugged her softly this time.
"Hey! You had her long enough. It's my turn now." Katie heard Logan say. She giggled as she pulled away from Carlos and went over to hug Logan.
"I am so proud of you, Katie-Bear. You are now officially a high school graduate and you made it through the speech with no problem." Logan grinned proudly.
Katie snorted with a smile. "I wouldn't have gotten through any of it without your help, Logie-Bear." Katie exclaimed with a smirk.
Logan's face turned red with embarrassment. "Katie! I told you not to use that nickname when we're out in public!" Logan quietly hissed.
"Oops! I forgot." She joked with a smile. Katie laughed at his reaction. She loved joking with Logan.
Before Logan could retort, Katie turned to see a bunch of girls surrounding her second favorite guy in the world.
James, being his usual self, was flattered by the attention and the flirting he was receiving from the girls.
Katie, however, was not. She didn't know what suddenly made her do what came next.
Katie sauntered over to James and slipped her hand into his, entwining their fingers. Katie felt a warm, tingly sensation at the feel of her hand in James'. It fit perfectly in his hand, like it was meant to be held by him. Katie shook it off remembering why she was holding his hand in the first place.
James felt Katie's hand grasp his and he looked down to see she entwined her fingers with his. James gulped and turned back to see Kendall with his eyebrow raised in confusion. Whatever Katie was planning on doing, it was not going to end well for him. But what Katie said next switched Kendall's face from one of confusion to one of fury.
"Sorry, girls…but this one is mine." Katie exclaimed proudly with a smile.
James' eyes bulged out of his head and his jaw fell wide open as he stood frozen in fear.
The girls laughed at Katie's statement. "Oh really, Katie. You and James Diamond? Get real! No way in hell James Diamond would go out with someone like you." The blonde girl scoffed.
"Yeah, just because you say you and him are together doesn't mean you are." The red-haired girl added.
"So, if you want us to believe you, you have to prove it, Knight." The blonde girl remarked.
Katie glared at the blonde girl angrily. Now everybody knows Katie Knight doesn't back down easily and is always up for a challenge much like her big brother. And she ALWAYS won every battle.
But this time was different. And it involved James. The one person Kendall did not want Katie involved with.
Katie sighed inwardly. She couldn't back down and prove these bitches right. She looked back at Kendall and saw just how furious he was getting. He was fuming and it wouldn't be long before he loses his temper.
"Come on, Knight! We don't have all afternoon to wait." The blonde girl shouted impatiently.
It was now or never. Katie had to do something or face humiliation. So she did the first thing to pop in her head that she never thought about before and knew it was a bad decision to make. Especially in front of her overprotective and furious big brother who undoubtedly looked like he was about to explode from all the anger building inside.
Katie grabbed James' face and pulled him into a soft, heated kiss.
James, at first, didn't respond right away, but he eventually did, forgetting that he was kissing his best friend's little sister. It felt so good and so…right. He didn't care if Kendall was going to murder him in front of all these people. He pulled Katie in closer to deepen the kiss. He smiled when he heard Katie elicit a gasp at first and then turn it into a soft moan as they kissed deeply.
The kiss ended as James and Katie both pulled away slowly. They became lost in a daze as they looked at each other in admiration.
It was quiet until the blonde girl scoffed loudly, startling them out of their daze. Katie cleared her throat nervously and looked at the girls smirking proudly.
"You know what, Knight? You can keep him! I don't want anything that's been tainted by you. Let's go, girls." The blonde girl glared at Katie one last time and walked away with the other girls.
Katie let out a sigh of relief and smiled up at James who was smiling back at her. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to cause any trouble."
"It's no big deal, Beautiful. Not exactly what I was expecting, but I did enjoy it." James winked at her playfully.
Katie punched him in the arm back playfully. "Not gonna happen again, pretty boy. That kiss was a one-time only thing."
James chuckled as he rubbed his arm. "We'll see about that, Beautiful." teased James.
Katie rolled her eyes and shook her head sighing.
"Uh, Katie, James…a little help here!" Logan shouted as he and Carlos held an infuriated Kendall back from killing James.
"Crap." Katie thought to herself. She forgot about her angry big brother. And by the looks he is giving her and James, he was none too pleased with what had happened. She walks over towards where Logan and Carlos were currently holding her big brother back. James stayed behind her in case Logan or Carlos loses their grip on his royally pissed off best friend.
Katie stopped a foot in front of Kendall, crossing her arms, and giving him her signature smirk. "Calm down, Kendall! It's not a big deal!" Katie responded with a nervous chuckle.
Kendall suddenly stopped moving. He looked at Katie pointedly. "Not a big deal? NOT A BIG DEAL?! YOU JUST KISSED JAMES!" Kendall shouted angrily as shook off Logan and Carlos.
Katie scoffed at him. "So what?"
"SO WHAT?! Katie! You just can't go kissing James like that! You don't know where his lips have been last! They could be infected by some kind of deadly disease. Tell her, Logan!" Kendall argued back as he turned to Logan.
"Kendall, I think you're getting a little paranoid." Logan quipped. Kendall glared at him. Logan chuckled nervously and took a step back.
Katie smirked. "I agree with Logan. You are definitely acting paranoid, big brother."
Kendall screamed out angrily. "I AM NOT BEING PARANOID! I just don't think it is right for my baby sister to be kissing one of my best friends. It's just…WRONG!"
Katie rolled her eyes and sighed. "When are you going to stop treating me like I'm still a kid? I'm not a little kid anymore. I'm eighteen and perfectly capable of deciding who I want to kiss. And it's not like I'm dating him. Isn't that right, James?" She turned and smirked at James.
James gulped and looked over to Kendall glaring at him. "Uhh…"
"DON'T YOU DARE ANSWER HER, JAMES! I STILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH YOU!" Kendall turned back to Katie. His usual warm green eyes became rimmed with anger as he glared back down at his baby sister.
Katie gulped when she saw the fury in his eyes. There was no way she could convince him to calm down now. He was way beyond pissed.
"Katie, I know that you are eighteen and allowed to make your own decisions. I'll accept that. But there is no way in Heaven or hell that I am going to allow you to date James. He is the last person on Earth I want you to date. So if you ever do what you did with James again, I will—"
"KENDALL DONALD KNIGHT, IF YOU FINISH THAT SENTENCE, I WILL PUT YOU OVER MY LEG IN FRONT OF THESE PEOPLE AND SPANK YOU." Kendall froze at the sound of his mother's voice. He knew she meant what she said and she would do it too.
Kendall looked back at his mom and smiled nervously. He turned back to his sister and finished what he was saying. "Look, to save me from complete and utter humiliation, let's forget about what happened and get back to what's really important, your high school graduation. Okay?" Kendall replied calmly.
Katie raised her eyebrow at him and chuckled. "Okay, big brother. We'll forget all about me kissing James and your close encounter with public humiliation, and get back to celebrating my graduation from high school…" She grabs the collar of his shirt and pulls him close to her face. "…and for doing this grand favor for you, you owe me 100 bucks for keeping my mouth shut about all this." Katie whispered softly.
"50 bucks and you got a deal." Kendall whispers in response.
Katie grumbles and squints her eyes at him. "Fine! Half now, and I get the other half as a graduation present. You know, to go towards paying for my college tuition."
Kendall's mouth twitches in anger. "Fine…" He gives her 50 bucks and saves the other half for later.
He watches Katie walk back over to Carlos and Logan as she counted the dollars he gave her. She was making sure she got $50 exactly because if she didn't, she'll make him pay the full 100 bucks right then and there. As angry as he was at Katie's situation, he was quite impressed by her actions. She always knew how to pull a scheme and get away with it. Kendall himself was good at it too and it helped him to get out of a lot of past indiscretions. Must be something they got from their father.
Kendall knew his dad would be proud of his baby sister. After his death, Kendall had to take over the role of being the man of the house and helped his mother raise Katie. It was the reason why Kendall is always overprotective of Katie. She may hate his constant need to protect her, but it was not without reason.
Speaking of protecting his baby sister, Kendall looked over at a hopeful James. He chuckled to himself at the sight of James trying to make his escape from Kendall's wrath. When James heard him chuckle, he looked over at Kendall, smiling nervously. That's when Kendall stopped smiling, and James started running.
"Man, I love my job…" Kendall exclaimed quietly as he began chasing down his soon-to-be-dead best friend.
~*~*~*~*~*~o0-0o~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: So what do you guys think? Was it worth the wait? Are you excited for the next chapter? Again, I am sorry for making you guys wait. I promise to have the next chapter up and ready to go soon. But in the meantime, please leave a review for me and my muse. My muse loves reviews and it makes me a very happy Rachy. So, please, please, please review! And stay tuned for Chapter 2. It's a doozy! Haha! :D