.:Chapter Nine - Normal Adolescent Behavior:.


"Hey, do you guys have any plans for this weekend?" Patrick asked as he pushed his plate of fries away from him, grabbing onto a notebook. He flipped it open, quickly moving past pages of doodles and lyrics as he tried to find a blank page. He leaned forward and started to write something in it. "We need to know so we can get a bus or a van for you guys."

"Why?" Kendall asked as he leaned back in his seat, popping a French Fry into his mouth. "Where are you going this weekend?"

"We're going to a crypt." Sydney replied in the same tone that he would say they were going to the park to play some football. But it seemed like such an odd comparison to be so calm about it.

A Crypt? Kendall exchanged glances with his friends and could tell from the look on their faces that they were thinking the same thing. Carlos' mouth was hanging open; James looked like he was completely freaked out, and Logan just looked at them like they were crazy.

"What?" Sydney shrugged carelessly as he inspected his hamburger. "It's just an underground vault, with all the inherent fear of suffocation and smothering that such places naturally engender in mankind." He made a face when he noticed the proud looks that his siblings had on their faces. Even though Sydney had a habit of annoying people with his smarts, it wasn't something they could ignore and not be proud of. "And there's no denying a crypt is a shadowy and mysterious chamber rife with negative mythology. Not to mention the atmospheric hint of dark rituals far older than Christianity itself." Sydney concluded with a bright smile.

"So, let me get this straight," Logan commented as he folded his hand and rested it on the table in front of him. "You're telling us that you guys are shooting a music video this weekend, and you're going to be shooting it in a crypt?" He waved his hands. "Is that about right?" Sydney nodded as she started to squirt ketchup onto his plate. "Are you crazy? Do you know what happens if you disturb the dead?"

"Hey, if you don't want to go, just say so," Patrick commented with a shrug.

Katie smiled as she pushed her empty plate away from her and crossed her ankles, leaning forward so she could be in on the conversation as well. Unlike the times she would go to Rocque Records to watch the boys goof off when it came to working on their music, she knew that things at Blazing Phoenix worked differently. Apart from the fact that the Jacksons prided themselves on their work integrity, the way that they ran the guys showed that they cared about their music career as well.

"No, we want to go," Katie said eagerly. "It would let me see how a music video shoot is really supposed to work." She turned and flashed a smile at Kendall. She laughed as Kendall rolled his eyes and reached out, pushing her head towards the table. "What song are you doing the video for?"

"It's a surprise," Noah replied as he wiped his mouth with a napkin."But trust me when I say that it'll be an experience you won't forget." He tossed his napkin onto his plate and then pointed at Katie's. "Are you done?" She nodded and he grabbed her plate before getting Riley's and Rhuben's as well. He kicked his chair back away from the table and walked them over to an empty table before sitting back down with his friends again. "So are you in or not?" He flipped his hair out of his face.

"I'm in!" Katie said quickly. She blushed a little and bowed her head, realizing that she had said it kind of loudly. "If that's ok," she added lamely.

"'Course it is," Patrick commented. "We wouldn't have asked if it wasn't ok." He leaned back in his seat as he tapped his chin with his pen. "Do you think that the others would be able to go too?" He asked curiously. "Dak and WayneWayne I'm sure wouldn't miss it." He darted his eyes over to Kendall, watching as the blonde made a slight grunting sound and rubbed the back of his neck. James, Logan, and Carlos stayed silent. The four of them still weren't on great terms with WayneWayne, they were slowly opening up to him, but Kendall was the one that still seemed to have a sort of vendetta against him, even though he would never say it out loud. "But Camille, Stephanie, and…Jo might have something to do that day."

"Just ask them or leave a security pass, it should be fine." Sydney said through a full mouth. He licked ketchup off of his chin and then tilted his head to the side. "So, do you guys have anything else to that song yet? I'd like to hear it."

Logan made a face as he exchanged glances with his friends. Work on the song was going very slowly. They had added a few lines to the bridge and part of a joke rap that Logan had made up one day when they were brainstorming more ideas, but it wasn't anything spectacular. Gustavo was becoming antsy even though they had only been working on it for a couple of days and Kelly had called a few times asking about it herself. They weren't the only ones who were nervous. It was the first time that they were going to be writing most of the songs on the CD and it was going to affect everyone that they were working with and their lives.

"I'm guessing that you do," Sydney put his hamburger down and wiped off his hands. "I'm going to have to hear it anyway if I'm helping Gustavo mix the whole thing." He reminded them.

Logan sucked his lips into his mouth and let out a sigh before grabbing his notebook off of the floor. He had started to bring it everywhere with him, taking their advice of having it or just a sheet of paper in general, ion case inspiration struck them. He opened it and flipped a couple of pages before sliding it over to his friends so they all could sit around it. James hummed a few notes to himself and then quickly snapped a beat to the song and then started to sing.

"I tried to write this down, the words just don't come out, it's hard to say how you feel. Been down the longest road, said yes when I meant no, I lost control of the wheel."

Logan and Carlos jumped in on the next verse with Carlos taking up the lead on the part. "Cause you know that things get so bad. You've got my back, make me wanna sing."

"And girl I'll sing about you." Logan cut in, keeping his eyes down on his notebook, afraid to look up and see what his friends' expressions were.

"No sweeter sound than what I've found," Carlos started up again, bobbing his head back and forth as he sang. "No perfect love could be more perfect than us." He looked up and shrugged slightly, giving a bright smile. "That's the newest hook that we came up with that we like the most."

"Oh," Kendall grabbed the notebook and flipped a few pages over. "And Logan came up with a rap for somewhere in the song as well." He put the notebook back down and slapped Logan on the back, dispelling the smart boy's glare with a charming smile. "Go ahead, buddy."

"Thanks," Logan said through gritted teeth. He cleared his throat a few times before wiping his hands off on his lap. "Well, it's the first thing that I thought of," he said, stalling a bit for time. "I don't even know if rapping is the way to go on this song, but it was something that I couldn't shake as soon as I had gotten it in my head." He cleared his throat once more. "And, I think that-"

"Logie," Rhuben interrupted swiftly, drumming her fingertips on the top of the metal table, her purple-black painted fingernails clacking with each hit. "We could get through this faster if you just went ahead and did it." She goaded as patiently as possible. Logan looked up at her and she raised an eyebrow as she looked back at him, not breaking the stare.

Katie held a hand over her mouth, making sure that no one noticed the smile slowly creep its way onto her face. Patrick shot a look towards her and she quickly adopted a bored expression until he turned away.

"Ok," Logan took a deep breath, looking at her a second longer, and then turned his attention back to his notebook. He took another breath and started to rap. "She's my music enhancer; when the music plays she's my dancer. When I'm around her everything's faster. Every question I have she's the answer. I'm head over heels, can't explain that this all so real, when I'm around you baby you make me feel like everything's better with you."

The four boys looked up at their friends and waited for their response. But they knew that they weren't going to get it pretty fast as they liked to think about their reaction before they actually gave it. Sydney had a smile on his face, so that was good news. He wasn't ever afraid to say whether or not he liked the music, as he was the one that worked the closest with them on it. But Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah were looking around, thoughtful expression on their faces.

"How many times have you worked on that before you finalized it with this?" Riley asked, flipping a few pages back and pointing to the part that Carlos and Logan had sang together.

"Uh," Carlos closed one eye as he thought about it. "All day, while Mama Knight was out with Gustavo and Kelly."

"Mhm," Katie nodded as she vouched for them. "You should have seen how many times they fought over it until Logan got them to shut up by writing the ending down and saying that they were going to stick with it." She rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder how they function without me around to keep them from acting as idiotic as they already do."

"Don't quiet your day job," Riley commented, pushing her hair over her shoulders. "I think that this part is really great," she said honestly, causing the boys to smile. "It doesn't sound like anything that artists have done before and I can see people dancing to that portion." She leaned back in her seat, raising the right former of her mouth. "Good on ya."

"I agree," Rhuben nodded, her arms crossed over her chest. "I think that part is really cool and I think the rap is good as well," she moved her eyes over to Logan. He smiled back at her, pleased at the compliment.

It was the part of the song that he was worried about the most, more than writing the song itself. He had never told anyone that every now and then he liked to make up his own raps that he performed for himself. He was always self-conscious about it, and he wasn't sure what people would think or whether or not that they would judge him. He's a 'math-nerd' not a 'rapper', but if he was able to add 'pop star' to his name, why couldn't he branch out?

"But," Rhuben held up a finger, letting them know that she was going to give them some constructive criticism as well. "What I'm wondering is the theme of the song." She said, looking directly at the four boys. "It's about a girl, right?"

"Right," James nodded, his smile fading a little bit, but he was listening intently. Every critique or downright slam against his work, he would take in, to make sure that he could fix whatever it was that he needed to fix. Anything to make his dream come true. "Is that bad?"

"Not in so many words," Patrick said as he rubbed a hand over his mouth. "It's not bad, it's just," he paused. "If you're trying to change your sound-"

"Then why continue to sing about a girl?" Noah broke in, coming to Patrick's rescue. "If you want your sound to be grown up, so that it can relate to your older fans more, then the subject can be a bit grown up as well."

"Exactly." Patrick nodded.

Katie looked over at Kendall and the other boys and felt a little sad, seeing the discouraged look on their faces. She didn't blame them. I've never seen them look so down before. She thought to herself, lacing her fingers together. Not even when Gustavo is constantly yelling at them. She blinked once. They must really want this. She realized.

"Don't worry guys," Katie smiled as she wrapped her arms around Kendall in a tight hug. "Don't be so down, they're just giving their two cents to try and help you get better."

"She's right," Riley agreed. "You can do whatever you want with your music, we're just giving our opinion." She looked at her watch, changing the subject. "We still have, like, 20 minutes until we need to go back into the studio, do you want to play pool or something?" She asked her siblings.

"Sounds good to me," Patrick jumped at the chance. He turned and grabbed onto Katie's wrist. "C'mon, you have to see our pool table and our ping-pong table, you can play against me, but I'm not going to go easy on you because you're a girl." He pulled her around the table and then let go of her hand before putting an arm around Noah's shoulders. "I'm going to beat you this time, buddy." He declared, lightly patting Noah on the stomach.

"I don't think so," Noah replied, although he wasn't smiling.

"Rhu," Logan grabbed Rhuben's attention as the other got up from the table. She turned to him, her blue eyes wide waiting for him to continue with what he was going to say. "Did you really like it?" He elaborated before she could even look confused. "My rap? Did you really think it was good?"

"I would have said otherwise if it was bad," she reminded him. Logan nodded. "Of course I thought it was good," she reached out and lightly hit him on the arm. "You need to have some more confidence in yourself." She added before turning on her heel, her ponytail bobbing as she followed her siblings.

Logan quickened his pace so he wouldn't be left behind.

The 10 friends left the large kitchen and walked to the game room. There was a dart board, a pool table, a ping-pong table, a card table, and some sit-n-bounces scattered around the room. Carlos let out a scream of delight and grabbed onto a sit-n-bounce before anyone could even breathe and was already bouncing around the room. Sydney grabbed the other one and started to follow after him, the two of them laughing loudly. Patrick, Noah, James, and Katie started up a game of ping-pong, Logan started up darts, and Riley and Kendall opted to play pool. Rhuben opted out of playing a game to take pictures of everyone as well as to watch Patrick, Noah, Katie, and James play pool, knowing they were going to get very competitive.

Kendall grabbed a pool cue off of the wall and held it in his hands for a few seconds before grabbing the chalk and rubbing it across the tip. He turned to Riley, who had gathered all of the balls and put them together in the cue, setting them up on the table.

"You can go first," he offered with a wave of his arm.

Riley shot him a look as she rounded the table towards the cue ball. "That's sweet, but I don't need permission." She murmured as she raised her pool cue towards the table and hit the cue ball. She made a face as she broke the formation of the other balls but didn't get any in the pockets.

Kendall stayed silent as he took a shot and managed to sink the 1 ball, solidifying that he was going to be going after the solid as she went after the stripes. He watched her for a moment as he moved around to go after the next ball. He wasn't sure if he was going to say anything about her odd behavior at first, but then the words came tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop himself. "You were kind of quiet during dinner," he remarked. "More so than usual." He gave a teasing smile, hoping to ease the tension. "In fact, I don't think I've ever heard you so quiet since I met you." He looked at her and she just looked back at him, her eyes hard. "Seriously," he aimed for his second ball, but missed. "Is something wrong?"

"When is something not wrong with me?" Riley asked vaguely as she took her shot. She smiled a little as she managed to get it in. Kendall made a face, not knowing how to answer the question. He knew it was a ploy, she had a habit of asking him vague questions, silently taunting him for an answer, to see if he was the kind of person to stand up to a challenge or back down. And in this case, the challenge was getting her to open up to him. When he didn't answer fast enough she just sighed. "Nothing that's too important for you to get worried about." She commented

"Too late." Kendall said simply.

"Thanks." Riley replied, getting another ball in.

"No problem," Kendall shrugged modestly. The two continued to go around as they took their shots, trying to get to the point that they could try and sink the 8 ball for the win, but it was moving slowly. As they went around, Kendall couldn't help but think back to the CD they were working on. Are we really going to get this done in time? And if so, will our fans really like it? We're taking a huge risk here, I don't know if it'll work.

"I'm just thinking about random stuff," Riley said after a moment, getting Kendall's attention again. He looked up at her before slowly standing up from his position to try and take a corner pocket shot. "Mostly about our music and some of the new songs that we're working on, and then about your guys' stuff too." She raised and lowered her right shoulder before resting her cue stick against her side. "No big deal."

"Oh, well," Kendall leaned back down to take the shot. "Thanks for sharing."

"Mhm," Riley suddenly reached up and scratched her forehead, effectively hiding her face. "You know, you guys can do anything you put your minds to." Kendall gave her a confused look. "I could see the question in your face," she explained. "If there's one thing that you have to remember, it's that no matter what happens we're always behind you guys to help any way we can."

Knowing that there was something else that she wanted to say, Kendall stood up and rested his pool cue against the ground, waiting for it. Riley looked away for a moment, her eyes moving over to her siblings; an expression of sadness crossing her face. But it was gone when she turned back to Kendall.

"Just don't get too used to the job; it can all be taken away in a moment." She motioned back to the table. "Take your shot, Hockey-Head."


Ronan turned away from his computer, biting his lower lip in worry as he turned to the piles of papers in front of him. He frantically pushed a few of them aside, looking for a specific sheet, little sounds of frustration coming out of his mouth when he couldn't find it quickly.

And I thought that Gustavo was having problems. Letting out a growl, he turned back around, closed his laptop with a firm push of his hand and ran his hands over his face. This can't be happening.


A/N: Whew, another chapter down. I hope you guys liked it and I'll update again soon. Most of this chapter didn't really come out the way I wanted it to, but I needed to show a bit romance so there's some PatKatNo, Kiley, and Lella moments in this chapter for those that were waiting for it. Ok, after this chapter things pick up and the angst and drama and everything starts then. I alluded to it at the end of the BTR/DE part of the chapter, but I'm not sure that you guys could figure out what it was. I might have made it a big too vague. Things pick up in the next chapter as well. Also, I'm sorry this chapter was so dialogue driven, I'm working on it as the story goes on.

Cheers,

-Riles