~Chapter Eleven – Big Time Aftermath~

The Jacksons all looked up at Ronan as he stormed into the kitchen, holding his laptop under his arm. They looked at him curiously before glancing over at the clock, before looking back at him. They didn't say a word, they just sat in their seats chewing their cereal.

"Well?" he asked, looking around at each of them.

"'Well' what?" Patrick asked before shoving a spoonful of Cocoa Puffs into his mouth. A line of chocolate milk dribbled down his cheek and he wiped the back of his hand over his mouth. "We're out of milk by the way."

"Aren't you supposed to be in a meeting right now?" Riley asked, tilting her head to the side.

"That's beside the point," Ronan waved his hand in the air. He let out a heavy sigh. "I'm disappointed in you guys. You know the rules! So why is it that you came back home after curfew."

A confused look crossed Sydney's face as Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah exchanged guilty glances. "How'd you find out?" Riley asked after a moment of silence.

"Yeah, I mean, we were quiet when we got back in here," Rhuben added. Ronan wordlessly opened his laptop, using one hand to type in his password before turning it around to face his kids. They all leaned forward to look at the screen. "It's our website, so wha-?"

"Riles, you're an idiot," Patrick commented once he noticed the latest blog post his sister had put up. "Why would you go ahead and post on here about sneaking back in after curfew?"

"So many people look at our site," Noah commented, his bottom lip jutting out slightly. "Ooh, everyone else is probably going to get in trouble too."

Ronan raised her eyebrows in Riley's direction and she gave him a sweet smile. "Would you believe, that we were here all last night and in my insomnia state I wrote this blog post about what we could do if we had stayed out past curfew?" she asked before batting her eyelashes. Ronan gave her a 'Give me a break' look and she deflated. "Sorry."

"Apparently you forgot that I always monitor your website," Ronan said as he closed his laptop with a loud snap before pinching the bridge of his nose. "All of you are grounded; the girls for two weeks and the boys for one."

"We didn't do anything!" Sydney wailed, a troubled look crossing his face. "That's not fair."

"Don't think I haven't figured out why you three were acting so weird last night" Ronan warned the small boy. "You were covering for them while they tried to sneak back in." Sydney didn't bother to deny it, but lifted the corner of his mouth up into a small smile. "And for that you'll be punished too."

"Now when you say grounded, what does that exactly entail?" Patrick asked, his hands folded on the table.

"You go to classes, you go to sports practice, and you come straight back here," Ronan replied, crossing his arms over his chest. Patrick opened his mouth and Ronan put up a hand. "We have plenty of food here for you to eat and if you just have to buy your food, you buy it and come back here. Understand?"

"Yes," the five of them muttered in reply.

"Good, I won't be back late," Ronan replied as he started to pack up his things. "Pat, Noh, keep an eye out for your brother while he's taking classes today." He grabbed his keys and made his way out to the front door.

"He thinks he's gotten all the bases covered," Riley smirked, leaning towards her siblings. "I've found a loophole. He never said we couldn't go over to Julius's place."

They all looked up as Ronan re-opened the door and leaned back into the room. "And don't think you can get out of this by going over to your brother's apartment. I've already called him and told him what's happened. While I'm out, he's to call here every once in a while to check on you."

"It's worse when Julius is mad at us," Sydney commented, stirring his left over cereal. He pouted, slumping in his chair.

"Sorry guys, I wasn't thinking," Riley stated, scratching her forehead. "I thought it would be something cool our fans would like. I'll go update the blog now. This should really give everyone a kick. I can see it now: FAMOUS BAND STILL GETS GROUNDED!"

"I didn't do anything," Sydney continued to pout.

"Finish your cereal and then I'll walk you to class," Rhuben said a she ran her fingers through his hair. He sighed and reached for his spoon as the phone rang.

"I'll get it," Noah announced, picking his empty bowl off the table. He placed it in the sink and grabbed the phone from the counter, jumping up to sit on it. "How ya going?" Everyone stayed silent as they watched him. He put his hand over the mouthpiece and said, "It's Dizzy."

"Wonder what lover-boy wants," Patrick grinned over at Rhuben who made a face back at him. "That's attractive. I honestly don't know what he sees in you."

"I could say the same for the girls that find you attractive," she shot back. Patrick stuck his tongue out at her before going back to his cereal.

"Yeah, we're going to be at practice today," Noah continued his conversation with Dak. "Big game's coming up, can't miss it. See you later. Hoo roo."

"What'd he want?" Riley asked, coming out of her room with her laptop case on her shoulder.

"He wanted to know if we got into any trouble with curfew," Noah replied setting his phone back into its cradle. "And to see if we were going to practice today."

"Can I come?" Sydney asked, smacking his lips after he finished his bowl of cereal. "I don't want to be stuck here by myself after school."

"You could come to run with me, I'm going to cross country practice while Rhubes going to help Logan with wakeboarding," Riley suggested as she heard a knock at the door. "That should be Jo and them. Hurry up, Rhu."

"I'm going, I'm going," Rhuben replied, hurrying to put her dishes in the sink before grabbing her backpack by her chair. Sydney shouldered his back and followed Rhuben to the door. "Syd, just text Riley about whichever you want to do. I'll see you guys later, stay out of trouble."

"Kay," Patrick and Noah replied in unison as they went to get their bags as Riley opened the front door.

"Hi, bye, gotta walk Sydney to class," Rhuben said as she side-stepped WayneWayne before making her way down the hall.

"What are you doing here, Dooley?" Riley asked, raising her eyebrows as she stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her. Patrick and Noah's first period class that day was cancelled so they still had another hour before they had to leave.

"Are you always crabby this early in the morning?" WayneWayne asked, raising his eyebrows. "Look, I just came to get my sunglasses back. It's not like I want to be here."

"Riiight, a boy doesn't want to be in an all girls dorm," Riley replied, rolling her eyes. "I must be the luckiest girl in the world because you came looking for me."

"Don't flatter yourself," WayneWayne replied as he rolled his eyes this time. "Sunglasses, please."

"What, are they your security blanket?" Riley asked with a teasing smirk. "No, I think I'll just keep them for a while, if it'll help you be weaned off them. Maybe I'll give them back for your birthday." She waved before hurrying off to her class. WayneWayne growled under his breath as he followed her at a slower pace.

"Hey Riley,' Kendall greeted the raven-haired girl after he nearly collided with her on his way out of his English class.

"Oh, hey, I didn't see you there," Riley said giving him a smile in return. "So, guess whose birthday is coming up?"

Kendall scrunched his face up in thought. "Um, Carlos is the only person I know who has a birthday in August."

"Right," Riley agreed with a nod. "I was helping him with his course selections and I saw when his birthday is. But anyway, guess what I got for him."

"A bounce house," Kendall said with a smirk.

"How'd you know?" Riley asked, a shocked look crossing her face. Kendall laughed and tugged the brochure, that was sticking out between two of her books, out and held it up to her. She chuckled as she started to fold it. "We tend to go all out for birthdays here."

"Hadn't noticed," Kendall joked. "The first day I got here it was someone's birthday, and they had sky writing above their dorm."

"You don't think it's too childish?" Riley asked, un uneasy look crossing her face.

"Carlos is the type of person that gets excited every year to sit on Santa's lap at the mall," Kendall replied, making Riley laugh. "I think he's going to have a field day with this one. He probably won't stop hugging you for the rest of his life." He then scratched the back of his neck. "I didn't even think about what to get him this year."

"The girls and I were talking and we're thinking about throwing him a surprise party in the Student Union," Riley added. "We can rent out the place for a few hours. Kind of away to make you guys feel welcome here so it's kinda like a 'Happy Birthday/Welcome to CABS' type thing."

"Sounds good, although if you're making this a surprise thing, I suggest you don't put it up on your blog," Kendall commented, causing Riley to roll her eyes. "I'm going to sign up to your guys' site later, but I couldn't help but see what you wrote and what kind of punishment you guys got."

"Get all your jokes in now for once classes are over, I have to go straight to sports practice and then I have to go straight back to my dorm," Riley stated, rolling her eyes. "The only downside to having your parent work here but there are some perks as well. How 's hockey going?"

"Good, I've been named captain of the team already," Kendall said with a pleased smile. "Then again, I haven't actually been named to be part of the team as I haven't really tried out yet." His smile faded a little bit. "Carlos is trying out too but James and Logan want to do the surf and wakeboarding thing. It's kinda weird 'cause we've always played on a team together."

"They can do both," Riley reminded him. "Hockey games are usually week nights and surf and wakeboarding competitions are generally all Saturday mornings. The only problem would be when play off time comes around."

"You know about hockey?" Kendall asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I mean, I've watched Mighty Ducks a million times when I was a kid, and I catch games on TV when I can, generally rooting for Anaheim, but I mean, I'm from Cali so I kinda have to root for the home team y'know?" Riley replied with a shrug. "But that's cool, being named captain. They generally don't let newcomers have that position, you must be really good."

"Well, actually I'm co-captain," Kendall replied as a pained expression crossed her face. "With WayneWayne. We got into a fight on the first day and he challenged me to a one on one game, and the coach saw the whole thing and wanted the two of us to do it."

"Which is why he's always doing the badass thing to you guys," Riley snapped her fingers putting two and two together. "He's just going to keep pushing people away from him the more he does that."

"I don't get what he has against me, but he just keeps rubbing me the wrong way," Kendall commented, shifting his backpack to his opposite shoulder.

"You and me both, dude, don't worry," Riley replied, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Oh and Jo wanted me to ask you when would be a good time for you two to meet up again for you to help her with her song for music class."

"Oh," Kendall blinked at the sudden change of topic but smiled. "Um, anytime is fine, I guess. She's a really good guitar player."

"And singer too, she just needs to get used to performing for people," Riley added. "I signed her up for a talent show last year and she nearly passed out before throwing a fit about the whole thing."

"Well maybe I could help," Kendall said with a shrug. "Hey, what did Gustavo and your dad want the other day?"

"Oh, well, I can tell you as long as you don't tell James," Riley said moving to stand in front of Kendall, starting to walk backwards. "It's bad enough he can't tell me and Rhuben apart, but if he found out about this, he'd never leave us alone."

"Promise," Kendall replied after marking an invisible X on his chest with his index finger. "What's up?"

"Gustavo Rocque wants us and Dak to keep an eye out for people with amazing talent that he could possibly sign later on this year," she replied with a shrug. "Like I said before we can't enter because we're already signed, but we decided to help out. Actually, he more or less threatened us, but it's pretty cool. All the departments have famous people who come and check out people."

"Trust me if I told James, I wouldn't be able to stand living in the same dorm with him," Kendall deadpanned, causing Riley to smile. He then glanced at his watch. "I'll catch ya later, I'm meeting up with Katie so we can take our computers to IT, we're having internet problems."

"Cool, see ya," Riley replied giving a small wave. She turned around just in time to run into someone, falling to the ground. "Watch where you're going!"

"Why don't you?"

Riley glared at WayneWayne as she pulled herself to her feet. "Oh, I'm sorry, do your sunglasses help you see?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Maybe you should just swing for glasses?"

"Look, could you…please," WayneWayne made a pained expression as he uttered the last word. He then sighed heavily and carried on in a soft voice. "Give them back? They're really important to me." Riley stared back at him, wondering whether he was being sincere or not before pulling the sunglasses out of her bag and handing them over. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she replied in a quiet tone before moving past him. "And for the record, you don't need to wear them all the time. You don't look that bad without 'em."

WayneWayne paused before sliding his sunglasses back onto his face just as Dak walked up to him. "Hey buddy. How're your classes?" he asked.

"Not too bad, man," WayneWayne replied turning to look at him.

"Hey, you got your sunglasses back," Dak clapped him on the back. "How'd you do that? Riley never gives things up that easily."

"I just…I said 'please'," WayneWayne replied with a shrug.

"And that's it?" Dak asked, raising an eyebrow. "And she didn't punch you or…anything?"

"No, I just had to ask nicely," WayneWayne replied, shaking his head back and forth, a small smile coming to his face. "That was it."

"Nervous?" Rhuben asked, catching Logan's attention as they took the school shuttle down to the lake.

She, Logan, and a few of Rhuben's wakeboarding teammates: two girls named Maxine and Ashley, and two boys named Jett and Craig were sitting on the bus with them along with their coach Mike Wicker. She had explained to him that they generally didn't have the whole team out until practice/the season actually started so those that wanted to try out, and those that were serious about practicing and the sport could have some time to themselves.

"Just a little," Logan replied, turning away from the window to face her. "What about you? Have you had the chance to practice over the summer?"

"No, I was really busy," Rhuben admitted, drumming her fingers on her knee. "But you never really forget how to do everything, it's like riding a bike."

"Well, prepare to see me fall on my face a lot, I haven't done this since I moved from Texas," Logan replied, feeling his stomach starting to twist up in knots as the bus pulled off the main road and onto a wooded trail. He could see little bits of the lake off in the distance through the trees. "I doubt I remember anything."

"You won't know until you get out there," Rhuben replied. "So, you , Kendall, Carlos and James seem to be great friends."

"We are, we never really leave Kendall's house," Logan said with a fond smile. "They're like the brothers I've never had. Not that I hadn't missed you guys or anything." He quickly supplied the last part, causing Rhuben to smile a little bit. "You've made plenty of friends too."

"Well, with Dak it was bound to happen," Rhuben replied, scratching at her ear. "I mean, he first started off doing Broadway shows, yeah? Then he moved into the music business and started recording songs, and acting in movies and then before I knew it he was this big teen heartthrob that any girl in the world wants to date." She turned in her seat, her back resting against the windows and faced him. "We met him before he got all big and famous and now, lucky me, ever since he's wanted to date me. I dare you to Google Search him and try and find at least one article about him that doesn't have mention of me."

Logan laughed as she continued her explanation. "We met Stephanie, Camille, and Jo when they were taking a tour of the school. If it wasn't for us they wouldn't have decided on going to CABS. We've been friends since. Our group of friends has been getting big ever since our da—uh…since we moved out here. Dak's sister, Lizzie; you'll meet her on Parent's Weekend, she goes to a Dance Academy but comes out to the games a lot. She's bets friends with Patrick and Noah, and Sydney loves her because she always gives him attention. And now you guys are here."

"Cool," Logan replied as the bus pulled up at the edge of the road. Rhuben and everyone else on the bus got to their feet, grabbing their wakeboards and their bags from the overhead compartments. Logan followed their lead before getting off the bus, stepping down onto the sandy ground.

"Alright everyone, follow me," Mike shouted, getting everyone's attention as he made his way towards one of the docks.

There were a couple of boats out on the water, but they had inner tubes hanging off the backs of them, showing that it was a few families having fun. Everyone marched behind Mike into a fairly big sized boat, taking hold of life jackets before taking their seats. Craig helped Mike remove the ropes that anchored the boat to the dock. Before Logan knew it, they were speeding out across the water.

"Alright, who wants to go first?" Mike asked as he slowed the boat. Rhuben and Maxine thrust htier hands into the air. "Sorry Maxie, Rhuben was a little bit faster than you."

"Alright," Rhuben grinned as she kicked off her flip flops before pulling her t-shirt up over her head to reveal a bright purple bikini top. She had on black board shorts over her bikini bottoms. Ashley handed her a hair band and she twisted her hair up into a loose ponytail. She flashed Logan a thumbs up before grabbing her board and throwing it in the water before jumping in after it.

"Shouldn't you be wearing a life vest?" Logan called after her, glancing at the abandoned life preserver.

"Don't worry about her, dude, she'll be fine," Jett said from where he was sitting, next to Mike in the boat. "Without Rhuben, we wouldn't be half as good."

"Whatever you say," Logan sighed, taking his seat as Ashley called to Mike to start the boat.

Logan watched as Rhuben floated above the water, holding onto the chord that was attached to the back of the boat. He had to admit that she was really good, better than he had remembered. She held the handle of the chord with one hand and waved with the other, steadily climbing waves and leaping over them at the last minute, after an especially impressive leap and spin Logan cupped his mouth with his hands and hollered, "Yeah! Ride those waves, Bella!"

He laughed as Rhuben shot him a thumbs up and somersaulted into the air, dropping the chord and hitting the water, board first, with a splash. She rose to the surface seconds later as the boat spun back around to pick her up. She kicked the board off her feet and scrambled back into the boat, switching places with Maxine. As she stated Logan saw that she was good, but not nearly as good as Rhuben had been.

"Sick ride," he commented as Rhuben sat on one of the many seats, wringing water out of her hair.

"Thanks," she replied with a grin. "You going to get out there today or are you just going to watch? We are out here for you, ya know."

"Yeah, I know," Logan replied, turning to look out over the lake houses they passed. "You guys are really good. It's no wonder you have all those trophies."

"You're stalling, Logie," Rhuben pointed out, a grin coming to her face. Her white teeth popped out against her tan skin. "You're scared aren't you?"

"I wouldn't say I was scared," Logan replied, laughing nervously. "I just… I haven't done this since I left Texas and…I don't know if I still have the muscle memory for it or anything." Rhuben stopped what she was doing and looked up at Logan a serious look crossing her face.

"Logan Philip Mitchell if there's anything I've learned about fear, it's that it can really fuck up your life if you don't do anything about it whenever you have the chance," she stated, her blue eyes boring into her brown ones.

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking back at her. 'I've never seen her this serious before. And she was a pretty serious kid.' Rhuben called to Mike that Maxine wanted to go faster and sped up the boat. "You're not scared of anything."

"I was scared that day you convinced Riles and I to go to the creek with you, when you had no idea where you were going," she replied, arching an eyebrow, causing Logan to smile at the memory. "There are a lot of things I'm scared of Logan, and unfortunately, it took me years to do something about it and it's really changed the way I've looked at life." She shook head letting out a sigh. "Anyway, either you get in the water and keep doing it until you know whether or not you've made the team, or regret it every day for the rest of your life."

"Of course you throw the creek thing back in my face," Logan crossed his arms over his chest, smiling as she laughed a little bit. He let out a big breath, alright, I'll try it."

"That's my Logie-Bear," Rhuben said with a teasing grin as she grabbed a life vest, holding it out to him. She burst out into loud laughter when Logan cringed at his nickname before telling Mike to stop the boat. Logan turned around and slid his arms through the holes of the life vest before buckling it closed. "You still hate that name?"

"What do you think?" he replied, grabbing the wakeboard that he was borrowing.

The two of them sat in silence until Mike slowed in the middle of the lake. Maxine climbed back into the boat, smiling from ear to ear, shaking water out of her pig tails. Logan sat on the platform, slipped his feet into the bindings on his wakeboard, and hopped into the water, letting out an involuntary sigh as the warm water slid over his body.

"Let him stay out for a while, and get used to everything again," Rhuben said immediately turning to Mike. "Try taking him out towards some of the rails."

"You sure, Rhuben?" Mike asked, peering at her from over the top of his sunglasses. "Even you said yourself he hasn't done this in a while."

"Trust me, he'll be fine," Rhuben replied, patting him on the shoulder.

"Whatever you say," Mike replied, watching Logan bob in the water, waiting for the signal to start the boat.

"Calm down, Logan," he coached himself as his heartbeat quickened as he bobbed in the water. A splash next to him told him that the chord to the boat was thrown out to him. He grabbed the black object in both hands, licking his lips. "You can do this. It's just like riding a bike, you never really forget. You can do this." He let out a breath of air before giving Rhuben a thumbs up, the 'OK' sign to show that he was ready to go.

As soon as Logan heard the engine start, he immediately relaxed and allowed the boat to pull him up. The boat motor left a triangular wake behind it as the boat moved through the water. Logan moved outside the wake by going over one of the small waves. Then he turned back inward and used one wave as a skateboarding ramp to take off. He sailed over the wake and used the wave on the opposite side as a ramp to land.

'I did it.' A smile came to Logan's face as he slowly opened his eyes, realizing that he was still standing up. As soon as he had gotten into the air, he closed his eyes, afraid of what was going to happen. He tightened his grip on the chord and did the same maneuvering a few more times, getting used to it again.

After a while, Logan forgot about everyone watching him. The drone of the motor helped him zone out; only to focus on what he was doing at the time. No one else was there, it was just him, the boat, and the water. His only intention for our wakeboarding trip today was to just get his wakeboarding legs back. Maybe he'd try some tricks when he went out the next time.

'Might as well, I'm doing a pretty good job now' he thought, pressing his lips together. He tried a few of the easy ones—a front flip, a scarecrow—and he found that his balance was getting better and better the longer he was staying on, so he decided to try something a little bit harder. He tried a backroll and landed it perfectly.

Mike put his hand up in the air and started rotating it in a circle, signifying a turn. Logan grinned and leaned to the side as the boat turned, carrying him with it. The boat was headed towards a rail. Logan maneuvered himself out to the far left side of the boat, popped up onto the rail, and slid across it, landing nice and softly on the other side.

"Woo hoo!" Logan cheered, letting go of the chord with one hand, punching the air with his fist.

Rhuben punched both her fists into the air before she started clapping, yelling something at him, but he couldn't hear it over the sound of the whipping wind and the hum of the boat's motor. Logan gave Rhuben a thumbs up, gesturing for Mike to speed up, and immediately felt the increased speed. The hum of the boat got louder as the waves got bigger. Logan bent his knees, crouching towards the surface of the water as he moved to jump off the right wake.

He smiled as he launched himself up into the air. He spun in a circle twice, his hands quickly moving to let go and regrab the chord in front of him before he landed back down on the water. He immediately arced back out to pick up more speed before jumping off the opposite wake, executing a perfect 360 grab before landing it, and doing a 540 grab, landing that as well.

Satisfied with himself, Logan signaled for Mike to stop the boat. Rhuben and Maxine relayed the message and the boat immediately slowed down. Logan laughed in triumph as he dropped the chord. As the sound of the motor faded away, Logan sank back down into the warm water. He could hear everyone clapping for him.

"Way to go, Logie," Rhuben shouted, her hands cupped around her mouth. Logan popped the bindings of the boots on the board and pulled his feet out. He grabbed the board and swam to the back of the boat, putting up his board first before climbing on board. As soon as he took off his life jacket, Rhuben had her arms wrapped around him in a tight hug. "That was absolutely bonzer! I knew you could do it. Just like riding a bike, yeah?"

"Yeah, that was totally awesome," Logan grinned, hugging her back.

"You're such a hoon! You said you could barely remember how to do anything," Rhuben cried, lightly punching him on the arm. Logan gave her a confused look. "Show off." Logan just shrugged. He had no idea how he had remembered any of that so he couldn't really explain it to her. "Do stuff like that at the tryouts and you're a shoo in for the team."

A/N: Don't worry, you'll see more of Patrick and Noah and Sydney and Katie, and everyone else in the upcoming chapters. Hope you guys like this. This chapter was mainly focusing on Logan and his wakeboarding and a little bit more with Riley and WayneWayne. Hope you liked it.

Cheers,

-Rhubes