Chapter Two: Meetings and Phone Calls
"Dogs, your second CD needs to go above and beyond what BTR did!" Gustavo said as he leaned back in his chair, threatening to fall over backwards completely. He placed his hands behind his head and glanced up at Kelly who was dutifully standing beside him, nodding along with what he said. "After the success of the first one, I think that you can top it. I'm even…" he paused and sat up straight, tugging at the collar of his shirt. "Proud of you boys."
"I'm sorry," Kendall stared at Gustavo with somewhat of a smug look on his face. "Could you please speak up? I didn't hear what you just said." His smile widened as Gustavo glared at him and Logan, James, and Carlos snickered quietly.
"I said I'm…" Gustavo then swallowed thickly before letting out a heavy sigh. "Proud of you boys."
"Sorry," James cupped a hand around his ear and leaned forward. "I still didn't get that."
"IsaidI'mproudofyou!" Gustavo snapped so fast that his words blended together.
"Sorry," Logan shrugged. "What was that?"
"DON'T PUSH IT!" Gustavo yelled, finally getting tired of the guys' antics. Kelly gave the four boys a sharp look and they all feel silent. "Anyway, we called you here today so we could go over the scheduling and the work on your second album. Now," he folded his hands and rested them on his desk. "Your last album was mostly written for you, except for the song that you wrote, This Is Our Someday." He paused as the four boys grinned at each other. "And technically, you didn't even really write that, because it was a co-write with the DarkElements."
"You're forgetting the song 'Oh Yeah," Kelly reminded him. "That was a really good song." She tapped her chin. "It was well received with the critics; we probably should have used it as one of the singles to promote the CD instead of one of the other ones." She added as an afterthought.
"So," Gustavo barked, causing Kelly to fall silent, his upper lip curling with disgust and annoyance. "For whatever reason, Griffin wants you to make your second CD more for you."
"What does that mean exactly?" Carlos asked as he took his helmet off of his head and lowered it to his lap.
"It means," Kelly spoke up, an excited smile on her face. Unlike her partner, Kelly was always willing to help the guys as well as to give them praise whenever they needed it. "That you guys are able to make your CD sound however you want; you can choose the genre rather than just pop as the last one was. And," she paused for dramatic effect as the boys perked up, their eyes growing wide. "Griffin wants you to write as many songs as you can for this CD, to make it more you."
James couldn't help but let a grin spread across his face. He knew that his dream was coming true when they got their gold album three weeks ago, but now things were getting better than they ever were before. Now they were making their second album, which he was sure was going to go platinum this time, and make it even bigger and better for their fans. Since they were going to be the ones writing it, they were going to be able to make it sounds like the CDs that they all listened to and loved. His smile faded a bit as he thought about the last time they tried to write a song. Well, at least this time we won't attack each other with drumsticks and cymbals. I don't think Gustavo has the money to replace them all again.
He looked over at his friends and from the grimaces on their faces; he could see that they were thinking the same thing. He turned back to Gustavo and Kelly and gave a charming smile, something that he as "the face" was famous for. "Don't worry guys; we'll do a great job when it comes to writing songs this time!"
"You better be," Gustavo warned. "But just in case, I and some others are going to be writing songs as well, just in case you can't come up with something good."
"Which you will." Kelly broke in.
"Yeah, whatever," Gustavo rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. "Keep hope alive there."
Kelly reached out and lightly hit Gustavo on the arm, shaking her head at the boys, who smiled in reply. "Really, boys, all of us here at Rocque Records are proud of you. You've really come up on the radar so you have to make things so much better than before." She pulled her clipboard from her chest and looked down at it, checking off a few things. "Alright," she walked around Gustavo's desk and perched at the edge of it, crossing her legs. "First things first, what kind of sound would you like your CD to have? Keeping up with the pop theme, of course."
"Why of course?" Carlos asked, raising an eyebrow as he rested his arms on his helmet. "I think we should try something new." He suggested.
"The whole "If it isn't broke; don't fix it" paraphrase," Logan spoke up. "Because we're the proverbial 'boy band'," he used air quote around the words, although he didn't seem bothered by the name. "Pop music is going to be our main staple. We can expand off of that, but we want our fans to still be able to recognize us."
"But I agree with Carlos that we should do something a bit different," Kendall spoke up, crossing his arms and legs. "I mean, most of our reviewers said that our last CD was for kids, like, little kids. And that's not true." He shook his head. "We have fans our age and older and I think it would be good if we recognized that they are our fans. Like, make our music a bit more…"
"Sexy?" James suggested. He shrugged when the other guys turned and looked at him with slight glares. "Hey, sex sells!"
"He's right," Kelly commented as she pointed her pen over at James. "Although you still want to make sure that your younger fans are able to actually listen to the CD without a parent present." She reminded him, causing him to shrug and adopt his thinking face. "Ok, while you're thinking of that, we need to go over your scheduling for recording, song-writing and practices." She flipped a page on her clipboard. "The DarkElements are going to be helping you with this CD as well-"
"Awesome!" Carlos cheered, punching the air with his fists. "Then our CD will definitely be as great as it was last time!"
"You didn't let me finish," Kelly said patiently. "They're going to be helping you again, but won't be here as much as last time as they're going to be working on re-mastering their second album here as well as working on one to release back home."
"Two CDs?" Logan's eyebrows rose. "How's that possible?"
"Ok, think of it this way," Kelly tapped her chin for a moment. "They have about six CDs out back home that started from when they were young and in pop music, to how old they are now and working with darker stuff, so, basically as long as Riley and Rhuben have been making music, they've been cranking out CDs." She paused. "That's not including the ones they did with all of those other kids like Kids Bop." She scanned the boys' faces as she continued. "So, they came over here a little over a year ago and re-mastered and released their first CD which included their first number one single on the ARIA charts 'It's Been a Summer', along with the first look at their darker stuff. Because they're working on making their music big here as well as continuing their career back home, they're re-mastering their second CD as well as working on a new one to release back in Australia."
"Oh," Carlos nodded slowly. "Ok, that makes sense now." He then scratched the side of his head. "Is that why they're always going back to Australia every few months?"
Kelly nodded in reply. "That and they have photo shoots, and appearances, and press conferences to do, as well as needing a little break every now and then." She suddenly looked a little sad. "To be perfectly honest, I'm worried that they're working too much, but Ronan knows what he's doing and he knows when to give them time off."
"Also, from what I've heard, their schedule here in LA is nothing compared to the one at home." Logan added. "At least that's what Landy and Bella have told me." He scratched the back of his neck and stretched. "So what does this mean for our image? Does that have to change too?"
"Of course!" James broke in before Kelly could say anything. "Every time you make a new CD, you're practically re-inventing yourself. So we need to change our look for the new CD too." He grinned. "I was thinking we should wear a lot of white."
"White stains too easily!" Gustavo barked. "Besides, I know that Corndog-Boy over here would get mustard or something all over his clothes." He added as he gestured violently to Carlos, who seemed to shrink down in his chair as soon as he was acknowledged.
"You can't have a corndog without mustard." He practically whispered s he gave as sheepish smile.
"As Kelly was saying," Gustavo quickly changed the subject.
He lost his sharp demeanor as he took off his sunglasses and rested them on the table. Now the guys knew that he was being serious, as he never took off his sunglasses unless it was something that they really needed to know; so the boys gave him their undivided attention. Even though they didn't get along with Gustavo all the time, he was still part of their "LA Family" and he was the one that still saw some sort of something in all of them that was causing them to become a success. If asked, they would probably unanimously agree that they wouldn't give Gustavo up for anything gin the world.
"For this new CD, if you're not at school, you're basically going to be spending all of your time either in Rocque Records or in your apartment working on your new music. If you're not singing, you're writing a song, if you're not writing a song, you're dancing. If you're not dancing, you're sleeping, eating, or doing your homework." Gustavo explained. "If it was possible, I'd take you out of school entirely, but you never know with the music industry, one day your music is great and everyone loves you, and the next thing you know, you're back in your home of Minnie-Soda studying trying to catch up on your studies."
James and Carlos let out shrieks at the idea of not continuing with Big Time Rush. Kendall and Logan, on the other hand, merely nodded. Kendall never really wanted to become a band in the first place, but jumped at the chance when the opportunity came, he knew that he still wanted to be a professional hockey player and he kept onto that dream, knowing that, like Gustavo said, there's a good chance that they could tank. Logan was always both sides of the same coin, part of him knew that they were going to be successful with the fan base that they had, but the other part of him was rational enough to remember that there was a good chance that they could go home sooner than they thought. James and Carlos, obviously had never even given it a second thought, as soon as they were in LA, they were in LA and nothing was going to drag them away from it.
"So," Gustavo looked at his watch. "I want you dogs to come with me into the studio so we can work on your vocals and everything, while Kelly starts setting up interviews and meetings with…all of those other important people that I don't care about."
"What about Lunch?" Kelly spoke up. "We said that we were going to meet up with Ronan and Kacy so we could talk about their scheduling with the other band and everything," she reminded him. Gustavo made a face. Kendall's and Katie's mother, Kacy Knight, was the boys' Momager and she took the job very seriously. So seriously that Gustavo knew he would be dead if he broke the lunch meeting. Kelly rolled her eyes and shot a wink towards the boys as he looked at his watch, as if thinking about it. "You know you're hungry, Gustavo."
"I know that!" Gustavo snapped back. "But we have so much stuff to do." He made a winning sound as his stomach growled loudly. "Fine," he ran a hand over his face before turning back to the boys. "You have the rest of the day off, but I need you back here tomorrow as soon as school is over! I'll send Kelly to get you boys to make sure you're on time. Just now that from now on, you run on my schedule." He waned.
The boys got up from their chairs and left Rocque Records with large smiles on their faces. Nothing, not even all of the hard work that they were going to have to put into the new CD was going to bring down their moods. There was nowhere else for them to go but up and they were going to make sure that happened.
"So, to celebrate the news of working on our new CD, who thinks that we should go to the mall?" James asked as he rubbed his hands together eagerly. "And spend all of that money that we got from our first CD and concert tickets."
"Me!" Carlos shoved his hand into the air. "I need to get some polish for my helmet." He then reached up to his head and stroked it lovingly.
"Why not?" Kendall asked with a shrug. "I need to get some new shoes," he stuck out his right foot and wiggled it to prove a point. "As well as some new hockey gear." He reached out and slapped Logan on the shoulder. "So is Mr. I-Save-All-Of-My-Money going to just stand there and carry all of our bags again?" He gave Logan a charming smile as the smarter boy gave him a tiny glare.
Logan raised a hand to his chin as he thought about it. It would be a good idea to continue saving my money for school, but then again, we really do deserve it and Mama Knight says that we can spend some of it on whatever we want as long as we put the rest of it away. So maybe we should have some fun before we are in the studio all the time.
"The only bags that I'm going to be carrying are the ones that contain my new iPod, iPhone, and iPad," Logan smiled as he pulled his hand away from his chin and turned to Kendall. "Should we bring Katie or get some stuff for her?"
"I think it would be better if we brought her," Kendall commented with a snort. "Considering she'll be snapping at us if we got the wrong Gig, color, or size of an iPod or something." He looked at his watch. "So let's get back to the crib and get Katie and let's go." He rolled his eyes, although he was smiling. "Especially since after today our souls are in Gustavo's possession."
Later that night, Kendall looked over at his phone that was sitting on his bedside table as it vibrated. Looking at his watch, he wondered who would be calling him at 11 before he glanced over at Logan, who was sleeping soundly. Always go to bed early, so you're well rested for the next day. Kendall repeated Logan's words in his head as he put his Sports Illustrated down and grabbed his phone, looking at the screen.
He smiled for a moment before sliding the front of his iPhone to the side and putting the phone up to his ear. "Hey Riles, what's up?" He asked.
"Not much, Hockey-Head" Riley replied, sounding like she was tired. She paused for a second as he listened to someone in the background. "Hold on, the others say 'hi'."
Kendall pulled the phone away from his ear for a second as he heard Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney's voices come over the phone all saying 'hi' or 'hey Kendall' at the same time. If he had to guess, they were sitting in the same room and Riley had held out her phone so he could hear all of them. "Hey guys." He replied. "No offense, but I figured you'd be calling Logan."
"Ronan says 'hi' too," Riley added into the phone. "And as for Logie, he's asleep, he always sleeps early." Kendall looked over at Logan again, wondering how she knew that. "Besides, Rhu called him earlier today. Anyway, Ronan said that you guys had a meeting about your second CD today, and since we weren't able to get to Rocque Records today, we were wondering if we missed anything."
Kendall made a snorting sound. "Don't you mean you wondered what you missed?"
"You're the one that volunteers the information, not me," Riley swiftly replied, as if expecting him to say it. "Besides, I've been working all day, I could use the entertainment."
"That bad?" Kendall asked as he slid down in his bed, bringing his knees up and resting his magazine against it, cradling his phone against his ear.
"It wasn't bad really, just a lot of scheduling problems with working on two CDs and working with you guys, but I think we figured out a good schedule to make sure that everything that needs to be done is done on time." She let out a sigh. "So, your second CD, have you figured out the genre or anything yet?"
"Not yet," Kendall replied, shaking his head even though she couldn't see him. "We basically just got lectured on how this CD needs to be much bigger and better than the last one."
"Yeah, I remember that lecture." Riley said in a way that Kendall could tell that she was rolling her eyes.
"It wasn't bad really," Kendall insisted. "We just have a lot to think about with the new genres and the new sound, as well as our new image and everything. Plus, Griffin and Gustavo want us to write as many songs for the album as we can."
"Well, as long as you don't get stuck in another tin-foil war, things should be fine, Eyebrows." Riley replied.
Kendall laughed as he turned the page of the magazine, making sure he wasn't too loud and would wake up Logan. "I was thinking the same thing."
…
..
.
Mrs. Knight yawned as she placed her mug of coffee in the sink; lighting rinsing it out with water, cutting down the time that it would take to clean the dishes the next morning. She turned off the lights in the main area of the apartment and headed over to hers and Katie's shared room, only stopping when she spotted the light on in Kendall's and Logan's room. Quietly walking over to the room, she pushed open the door and peered inside before smiling and entering the whole way. Logan was fast asleep, smiling like he usually did, and Kendall was asleep as well, stretched out on his back. His phone rested against his chest, held there by his right hand.
She picked up his phone and checked the screen, her eyes widening when she noticed that the call had been going on for over four hours. Looking at her watch, her eyebrows twitched when she saw that it was 3:00 in the morning. She ended the call and placed his phone on his bedside table before turning off the light, sending the room into darkness.
A/N: So the second chapter is done and I already have an idea for everything. I'm not sure how long this story is going to be though. I wanted to go really in depth into how the music industry went, which is why I had a long scene of the boys with Gustavo and Kelly talking about the new way that their second CD was going to go. Also, I'm not sure if you guys remembered, but this story is also going to show how BTR and DE are different and I hope that you can see some of that here.
This chapter focused on Kendall, the next one is on Logan, then James, then Carlos, and then it goes into focusing on everyone. Just like my other stories its third person omniscient but goes into someone's mind as well, and if it goes into 1st person, I'll let you know in an author's note at the beginning of the chapter.
Could anyone see the song I referenced in here? It's only the start of all of the drama that's going on in the story. Some of the ideas that I have for this story is what I was going to put into 'I'm With You' but ended up taking it out, so I hope that you guys are ready for that as well .What do you guys think? Just like with Darkness Of My Past I'm going to go back and re-edit chapters after your guys' comments, so let me know.
Also this story has moments where it refers to/mentions things that have happened in WFLT/It's The Rush That You Get (although the re-write isn't technically connected to the first one) and this isn't really connected to those stories either, but since they're 'origins' stories, some moments are the same. So I hope that doesn't confuse you.
Thanks to MysticMelody101, BTR-Fan-4Lyfe, youspinmelikearecord, shotinthedark, Got2LiveItBigTime, DarkElement-Jackson-Fan, Lella-Kiley-Luvr, LogieLuvr914, BigTimeFan-'10, Rage-Against-Time, and BigTimeRush-DarkElements-Fan for reviewing.
Cheers,
-Riles
