Disclaimer: I still don't own Big Time Rush.

Guest: And here's another upload! Hope you enjoy it :) Thank you for taking the time to read and review, it's much appreciated.

Nessy: Aww, thanks, I'm happy to hear that :) Does a month classify as "soon"? And thank you so much for saying that! You're so sweet :) Thank you for taking the time to read and review, I really appreciate it.

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A/N: So, I'm still not getting this story updated as often as I would like, but on the bright side it's only been about a month since I last updated. So yay? This was an interesting chapter to write, and I'm hoping it'll be fun to read. I tried to base the haunted forest in this chapter off of one I went to last October, but since it's been almost seven months, my memory was pretty rusty. So hopefully I did okay with describing the forest. :)

Enjoy the chapter :)

Chapter Nine

Katie's POV

If someone had told me that it was actually possible for work to go by like the speed of light, I would have asked them what they were smoking. But by Saturday morning, I had accepted the fact that my feelings of dread in the face of going into a haunted forest with James, Logan, and Camille were overpowering other stuff that normally would have sucked rocks.

I slept in as late as I could on Saturday, before going through my usual routine. I texted James and Camille to confirm the times, before plopping down on the couch and spending most of the afternoon watching TV. Eventually I dragged myself into my bedroom, where I changed out of the sweats and t-shirt I had been wearing into jeans, Converse sneakers, and a fitted sweater. I brushed my hair out, added some eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss, before grabbing my purse, jacket, keys, and phone, and headed out to my car.

As I climbed into my car, my phone vibrated with a new text from James: "All set for Phase Two of Operation: Get Logan and Camille back together?"

I replied with: "What was Phase One? Us getting saddled with Steve?"

"Pretty much. Only this time Steve isn't in the picture."

"Let's just hope that the second time is the charm." I set my phone in the cup holder and buckled up, before starting the car and backing out of the parking spot. I drove to Camille's house and picked her up, before continuing on to the haunted forest.

The haunted forest was located in Maple Leaf Creek Park, about a fifteen minute drive from my house on a Saturday evening. The parking lot had been decorated with glowing orange and green lanterns and signs that read, "Enter If You Dare". I was feeling the love for sure.

I glanced over at Camille as I parked the car. "You don't seem too nervous," I commented.

She blinked at me. "Should I be? All this stuff's fake."

"But – I mean – you were so scared when we went through the haunted forest in high school."

"I wasn't scared, Katie. I was just pretending so that Logan would hold me."

"Oh." Well, fuck. There went that plan. James and I were toast. We were beyond toast. We were blackened toast that was so burnt that the smoke alarm wouldn't stop screeching. We had really screwed up here. Wait. Not we. He. He had really screwed up here. Him and his stupid ideas.

"Yeah," Camille nodded. "Are you okay? Maybe it's the lanterns, but you look a little green…"

"Must have been something I ate," I mumbled as I grabbed my phone, shooting a text to James: "Guess what. Camille's not really afraid of haunted forests. She only pretended to be in high school because she was trying to get Logan to hold her. Oh, and we're here. You're in so much trouble, you know that?"

He responded fifteen seconds later with: "Well, shit. And Logan and I will meet you two at the ticket booth."

"Texting James?" Camille asked once I had slipped my phone in my jeans pocket.

I nodded. "Yeah. Come on, he said he'd meet us at the ticket booth."

We climbed out of the car and made our way through the parking lot. The entrance to the park was flanked by two poles with laughing skulls positioned on the top. It would have been creepy if the skulls hadn't looked so pathetically plastic. Grass sprawled out on either side of the path, adorned with tombstones. We quickly located the ticket booth, a makeshift stand about twenty yards or so down the path.

James and Logan were at the end of the line, James' hands buried in his pockets.

The second Camille spotted Logan, she whirled around to face me. "What the hell is going on?" she demanded, anger creeping into her voice.

"What do you mean?" I asked innocently, before doing a double take. "Wait – oh my gosh! That's Logan! No way! James! How could you?"

The look James shot me was very clear: If I'm going down, I'm taking you down with me.

"How could I?" he retorted. "How could you? We agreed we were going to invite Logan! And then you go and invite Camille? The nerve. The absolute freaking nerve."

Logan looked back and forth between James and me, before shaking his head. "You two never came up with a story to explain why we were both invited, did you?"

"We forgot that part," I admitted sheepishly.

"We just completely blanked on it," James added reluctantly.

"I'm so confused," Camille announced. "Why did you guys invite both Logan and me? I mean, this isn't some crazy scheme to get us back together, right? Because I'm getting married to Steve. It isn't going to work."

"Oh, we know that," I assured her while crossing my fingers behind my back. "We just thought it'd be fun for old time's sake, but we didn't think you guys would agree to come if you knew the truth. But since we're all here…"

James nodded eagerly. "We should still go through the haunted house. You know. For old time's sake."

Camille sighed and turned to Logan. "What do you think?"

Logan shrugged. "It couldn't hurt, could it?"

"I guess not. Okay," she looked at us. "We'll do it." As she and Logan moved forward in line, James and I fist bumped in triumph. He grinned at me and I grinned back in spite of myself. Once we bought our tickets, we got in the line to go into the haunted forest.

"Brrr..." Camille shivered as we stood in line again, wrapping her arms around her body. "It's sooo cold out here."

There was a long moment, and then James stepped on Logan's foot.

"Ow!" Logan hollered.

"You don't need your coat, do you?" James asked him.

"I – what – "

James hissed at Logan, so low that I could barely hear him, "Give Camille your coat."

Logan's eyes widened in alarm, but he shrugged out of his black fleece coat and offered it to Camille, who accepted it gracefully. He helped her slide her arms into it and she snuggled into it. "Mmm…" she hummed. "It smells like you. Like cinnamon and cherry cough medicine."

I wasn't entirely that was a compliment, but Logan looked flattered and Camille looked like she had just returned home after being stranded on a deserted island. The sight was heartwarming. It also made me think that maybe tonight would go well after all. Maybe James' idea about dropping them off at a hotel after the haunted forest wasn't so stupid after all…And maybe James and I could get a room there too – wait. Where the hell had that thought come from? I didn't want to get a hotel room with James! I just wanted to get Logan and Camille back together so that I never had to see him again. That was all. Really.

As Camille asked Logan about how things were going at the hospital, I could feel the cold creeping in as well. I wrapped my arms around myself, shuffling my feet to keep from freezing to death. Becoming a Katiesicle wasn't exactly on my list of top ten things to do.

And then James was shrugging out of his own coat – his leather jacket again – and draping it over my shoulders.

I blinked up at him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Keeping you from getting hypothermia. You're welcome."

"Won't you be cold?" I asked even as I slipped my arms into the sleeves.

"Nah, I'm fine," he assured me.

"Are you sure?"

"Do you honestly think I would freeze my ass off for you?"

"Point taken."

Before long, we were handing over our tickets and moving out of the line, towards the forest. I could see an old, broken down semi truck parked on the side of the path and I frowned, trying to figure out what the hell it was doing there.

James eyed it for a moment, clearly trying to figure out the same thing. As we approached it, Logan placed his hands over Camille's ears. Before I could ask why, a piercing blast split the air, and James and I both jumped about a foot in the air. The fucking air horn had gone off. No wonder Logan had covered Camille's ears.

"You could have warned us," James grumbled to Logan as we moved past the truck. "If you knew that the truck's air horn was going to go off."

Logan smiled serenely. "But what fun would that have been? It was much more entertaining watching you two jump."

Camille nodded in agreement while James and I both scowled at them.

"Mean," I informed them. "You two are mean, evil, nasty people."

They just shrugged innocently.

We finally delved into the trees. The path was still lit, this time with what looked like torches. I was seriously hoping those weren't real torches, because with James' and my luck we would end up burning the park down.

Through the trees, I could see a dark figure running, a long cloak billowing out behind them and the sound of a chainsaw whirring. I slapped James' arm to get his attention, and he nodded. "I see it," he whispered, lips centimeters from my ears. I shivered involuntarily. Something told me it had nothing to do with the cold or the horror movie-like situation.

Up along the path was what appeared to be a house. I squinted in the dark, trying to see if there was anyone hanging around the house, but it appeared to be abandoned. Nevertheless, my heart seemed to be pounding in my chest like it was trying to jump out, and I grabbed James' hand.

"Uh – " he tried to pull his hand away, but I tightened my grip on it.

"You got me into this," I hissed threateningly at him. "You're going to protect me."

"You are aware none of this is real, right?"

"Protect me!"

"Oh, dear God…" Nevertheless, he shifted his hand in mine so that he had a better grasp on it, and pulled me closer.

"Hey, James," Logan smirked at him, before raising his eyebrows at our entwined fingers. "Something you and Katie want to announce to the group?"

"I will push you into the first ghost we see," James informed him.

"Ghosts aren't real. If we see a ghost, it'll most likely be a teenager dressed up to look – " he broke off as the house up ahead creaked eerily.

I immediately stopped in my tracks. "What was that?"

"Just the house," James said calmly, the very picture of male bravery and stupidity.

"It creaked."

"It's just setting the mood. The whole point is to creep us out and get us so tense that we'll scream twice as loud as we normally would," Logan explained. "Come on, there's nothing to worry about."

"Easy for you, Mr. Logic," I grumbled as we started forward again. We reached the house before long, and we paused again. Logan and Camille exchanged smiles and Logan held out his arm to her. She looped hers through it, and they trotted into the house like it was a fun park, not a freaky house in the middle of nowhere that kept creaking.

James and I looked at each other, and I pushed him in front of me. "After you. If they try to kill us, you'll die first and I'll have time to run."

"You're so selfless, you know that?" Nevertheless, he mounted the porch steps and led the way in. I grabbed his hand again, keeping my body firmly wedged behind his.

The house was dark and built of wood, with hot pink and green lights shining down from the ceiling. The front room appeared dark, but as we stepped into the hall, I heard Camille let out a startled yelp, before saying, "You know, you should really think about getting surgery for that."

I followed James down the winding hall. We were halfway down it when someone stepped out from the shadows, dressed in black robes and holding a grim reaper type scythe. I let out a cry, but James just looked the grim reaper up and down.

"Please tell me you're here to collect my soul and get me away from her."

I whacked him around the back of the head. "Hey! Be nice!"

The reaper drawled out, "You shall not pass."

"I am nice!" James protested. "You're the one who's using me as a human shield."

The reaper informed us that, "You shall not pass," again.

"Because you're the one who got me into this mess, you jerk."

"Oh, so it's my fault Camille was faking so that she could get close to Logan?"

"You shall not pass."

"Yes!" I stomped my foot. "I don't know how, but it's somehow your fault."

"Ugggh. Come on, let's just go," James groaned.

"You shall not pass!" the reaper cried.

"Yeah, we got the picture, you're going to reap our souls, blah, blah, blah," James said to him, tugging me forward and moving pass the grim reaper. "Better luck with the next bunch, dude."

We headed into a room. It was set up to look like an old jail from, like, the 1700s or something. Ghost pirates were chained to the wall, with blood smeared over their faces, knives sticking out of their hands, and one of the guys even had an axe sticking out of his head.

"Arrrrgghh!" they roared, lunging and leering at us through the bars of the jail.

James shook his finger at them. "Bad pirates! Bad! And dude, you really need to get that axe out of your head, because that must be one killer headache. Come on, Katie, let's go find Logan and Camille."

He dragged me out of the house and we emerged back on the path. Logan and Camille were waiting for us, laughing about something or other.

We continued down the path, with me huddling closer to James, and Logan and Camille chatting away like they weren't in the middle of a haunted forest.

The path eventually led through a set-up cemetery, with a girl in a white dress and straggly black hair standing on the side, and two women in Gothic style dresses hanging out behind one of the tombstones, arguing.

The girl in the dress tried to grab at Camille and me, but we dodged out of her way. James slipped his arm around me as if he could sense that I was starting to get freaked out again. I didn't like people trying to grab at me. It was just weird.

Up ahead, the two women turned to Camille and Logan. "Which one of us is right? It's me, right?"

"Totally you," Camille assured her. "You shouldn't have to marry some guy you don't want to."

"Yeah, marriage should be about love," Logan added in lightly, but James, Camille, and I all tensed at his words. Maybe Logan really wasn't as okay with Camille marrying Steve as he let on. Then again, if he was okay with it, James and I wouldn't be trying to get them back together.

The women went back to arguing, and James and I managed to get by them unscathed. Another house was sitting up ahead, and once again Camille and Logan walked in without waiting for James and me.

From inside the house, I could hear the tremor of screams. James and I exchanged slightly nervous looks, before he started forward, his arm still around me, though I was a step or two behind him.

We walked into a room that was something out of a horror movie. Kids were lying on operating tables, hooked up to all sorts of different machines, while doctors and nurses wearing bloodstained lab coats walked around, jotting down notes on their clipboards. I could hear them muttering stuff about leeches and electro shock therapy, but I didn't stop to ask questions. James hustled me out of the room, down the hall to another room where a whole bunch of other kids, wearing white nightgowns and clutching ripped up Teddy bears, were standing around, their faces bloodless and their eyes huge and haunted. I knew it was just makeup, but it was an extremely creepy effect, especially when they began whispering, "Please help", and, "You're next".

Even James looked like he was about to make a dash for it, but he got me out of the room as calmly as possible, pushing past the kids and apologizing for not being able to help them. We emerged into another room, where other doctors and nurses were milling around.

"Come join our experiment."

"It'll only hurt a little bit."

"Two young, able bodied people. Put their names on the list."

James and I practically sprinted for the door. We burst out onto the path, gasping for breath.

"Okay, that was freaky," James admitted.

"Ya think?"

He looked around. "Damn it! Where did Logan and Camille go?"

I clutched at his arm. "Maybe they were taken…"

"They must have gone ahead. Come on, let's see if we can catch up with – whoa. Would you two mind moving?"

Because up ahead, two young men dressed in breeches and ruffled shirts had crossed swords, blocking the path. One of them flashed us a nasty smile. "You can pass – for a toll."

"You guys accept American currency?"

I smacked him around the back of the head again. "Don't pay them. They're con artists."

James rolled his eyes and hauled me around them, and we were back on our way. We had reached a long, dark stretch of path. I peered nervously at the sides, but there didn't seem to be any creepy people waiting to jump out at us. That made me even more anxious, and I could feel my stomach churning in anticipation for what was sure to come.

"I can't believe we're doing this," I whimpered. "Once we get out of this place, I'm going to kill you." I clutched at him even more tightly, and he pulled me even closer.

"Remember, none of this is real."

"This was such a bad idea. Why couldn't we take Camille and Logan someplace nice with lights and non-creepy people?"

"Want to take them out for frozen yogurt next?"

"Sure, that – " A man jumped down from the tree, face so bloody that he appeared to be unrecognizable. I let out a piercing scream and the next thing I knew, I was in James' arms, being held bridal style by him. I may or may not have leapt right into his arms. James looked as surprised as I was to find me there.

"Hi," he greeted me.

"Hey."

"You jumped into my arms."

"I'm aware of that."

"That's good."

"It is."

"Mind getting down?"

"Mind putting me down?"

He lowered me back to the ground, and we rushed past the dude who had just jumped out of a tree. We managed to get through quite a bit more of the haunted forest without incident, although we didn't catch up with Logan and Camille. We were on what I figured was the last stretch of the path and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Almost there," I said to James.

"Thank goodness. I'm hungry. We should grab something to eat after this."

"Oooh, wanna go to that new Mexican restaurant over on Chandler Street?"

"Yeah, let's do that. I've been wanting to try that place since it opened."

"Cool. I heard their food's really – what was that?" We both froze at the sound of rumbling off in the darkness.

"Thunder?" James suggested.

"No…it sounded almost…mechanical."

We looked at each other, and then my eyes widened. "Oh no…"

And then the chainsaw guy leapt out at us, revving up his chainsaw. James and I took off down the path, his hand tightly gripping mine. We finally burst into a brightly lit section of the park, and I let out a deep breath, feeling as if I was high on adrenaline. "Oh my gosh…oh my gosh…oh my gosh…we survived that! We totally survived that!"

James let out a whoop and I instinctively threw my arms around his neck. The next thing I knew, we were kissing.

My brain seemed to go haywire: Hey, I'm alive! Hey, I'm kissing James! Wait – I'm kissing James. Why am I kissing James? I should probably pull away. Then why aren't I pulling away? He's kissing me. He's totally kissing me. Why is he kissing me? Why am I enjoying this? I shouldn't be enjoying this. This shouldn't be happening! This is James fucking Diamond, the scourge of your life! STOP KISSING HIM!

With a huge effort, I finally pulled away from him. James blinked at me, and I blinked back. There was a long pause, and then he said quickly, "It must have been the adrenaline – "

"Totally the adrenaline," I agreed, nodding enthusiastically. "I mean, I would never kiss you – "

"I would never kiss you – "

"And it just happened – "

"Totally random – "

"Let's just agree it never happened."

He nodded. "Okay. Deal."

At that moment, Logan and Camille came sidling up to us. "So, I see you two made it through the haunted forest," Camille grinned. "How'd you guys do?"

"We're alive, aren't we?" James sniffed, stepping away from me.

"Which is really good, I'm sure. Anyway, I'm ready to head out, and so is Logan, and since you two are the ones driving…"

"We could always stop to grab food," James suggested. "Katie and I were talking about that new Mexican restaurant – "

"I actually have to bow out," Camille said apologetically. "Steve isn't feeling that great, so I need to go home to take care of him."

"Oh."

"Yeah, sorry. Maybe next time. Anyway," she turned to Logan and gave him a hug. "It was nice catching up with you. I'll see you next Saturday."

I blinked. "Next Saturday?"

"Yeah, he's coming to the party." She smiled widely. "See you later, James. Come on, Katie."

I glanced over my shoulder at James as Camille led me away. He looked back at me, shrugging helplessly. Well, on the bright side it looked like Camille and Logan were getting closer. On the downside, Camille was still running home to Steve.

Oh, and James and I had kissed.

Good thing tonight was such a huge success.

Ugh.

Yes. I admit it. I smirked a lot while writing this chapter. Like I said, it was an interesting one to write. And I hope you guys enjoyed reading it! So, what'd you guys think? Was it okay? Did it work? Let me know, because I'd love to hear your opinions and feelings on this chapter! So, uh, please review ;) And thank you for taking the time to read :)