BTR had recorded the new song, and were still experimenting on it and trying to get it right, but in the meantime, they'd decided to put Logan's risky plan in to action. They all rode rented bikes to Mercede's house, lining them up against the curb, before nervously trudging up to the huge door and its bronze knocker. "Her parents are divorced; she lives with her mom. We won't find Griffin here," Logan declared while reaching upwards. His companions audibly sighed in relief. Then the knocker was brought thudding against the wooden surface.

It took a minute for someone to answer the door.

"Yes?" The girl who greeted them had wavy blonde hair, dark at the roots, so it must be dyed. There was a phony grin expertly fixed on her face. Then she noticed Logan, and immediately dropped her tiny purse to pounce on him and envelop him in a bone-crushing hug, real enthusiasm showing up on her face this time. "Logie, you're here!" she squealed. "Did you bring Mr. Poofypoofs?"

The other boys could see Logan's face where it was tucked over Mecede's shoulders, and it was the picture of guilt. There was no way he could resurrect his former girlfriend's dead gerbil, so he'd have to find a replacement. "I'll bring him back tomorrow, sweetums. But he may look a little different; it has been a few years."

"Why didn't you bring him back sooner?" Mercedes sulked. "My puppy was missing him!"

The boys all looked at each other with mixed expressions; any dog would probably try to eat the creature as soon as it scented it.

"Well...before I moved away, you asked me to take care of him, and you never asked for him back, so...I kept him!"

Mercedes turned to James as if she hadn't heard Logan's words, sizing up the tall brunette with a hungry glint in her eyes. "Who are the others?" she asked, though she had eyes only for the popstar, who smiled back at her stupidly.

Carlos introduced himself, and then Kendall opened his mouth to do the same, but Mercedes seemed to recognize him, and interrupted with a raucous laugh. "Hey, I remember you from the public pool! Don't you have a funny name? Like…Kelly?" Kendall made no effort to hide the growl vibrating from his throat.

"No," he told her impatiently. "I'm Kendall, the guitarist of-"

Logan suddenly whispered something to Kendall, who stopped to cough loudly for a full minute, although James could've sworn there was a grin on his face. Once he'd recovered, the boys changed topics and began to describe to Mercedes who James supposedly was, telling her he was a foreigner from Spain, and that his name was "Jamez."

Mercedes giggled and asked of the so-called spaniard, "So I guess that means you speak…one of the romance languages?" James shared a skeptical glance with Logan, nodded, then awkwardly grunted, "Er…si, senorita. Enchante."

In response to the last phrase, of course, Logan nearly choked and hissed, "That's French, idiot!"

But Mercedes only batted her eyelashes at James coyly; she obviously couldn't tell her languages apart. "Come inside," she said, terribly screwing up whatever accent she was trying to speak in.

Meanwhile, Carlos simply looked shocked and offended at the entire charade, shooting Logan frequent glares for having come up with James's fake identity.

Everyone headed in to what appeared to be a sitting room. Their surroundings smelled heavily of perfume, even the furniture. James took up an armchair for himself, while the other boys squeezed themselves on to a white couch, and Mercedes perched herself on a tall purple chair resembling a throne. "So...why are you here?"

"Um...I wanted my friends to see your place," Logan explained uncomfortably, before attempting a smile. "And...I was wondering whether you'd take me back, Merce."

Surprisingly, Mercedes didn't answer. She completely ignored the last part of what he'd said, asking whether the boys would like a tour of the mansion, then maybe tea and a snack. Carlos and James both offered to go along, but the blonde girl bit her lip when the latino wanted to join, asking him to fetch some cheese and crackers for everyone to eat later.

So Mercedes led James down the hall by the hand, but she stopped him when they reached a door with a star hanging on it, along with her name in cursive. "This is my bedroom," she said. "But before we go in, I'd like to...tidy up a bit."

She slipped in, and without showing him anything, could be heard bustling around for a few seconds. She returned with a fresh grin prepared on her face. "Now you can come in," she said invitingly.

James walked in and stopped, letting his "guide" go ahead. He circled on the spot, his head craned back all the way, gaping at the various decorations and things Mercedes had put everywhere. There was a huge queen bed place in the center of the room, covered in piles of stuffed animals, with a pink canopy stretched above the bedposts, and a white veil hanging down. She had pictures of herself hanging all over the walls, nearly as many times as the pictures of celebrities. The ceiling sloped up very high, leading up to a fancy chandelier with...diamonds on it!

But then his attention was drawn to a corner of...paper?...poking out from underneath her dresser. He walked over, bent down, and pulled it out, only to find that it was a poster, clumsily stuffed in to hiding. But what was more important was its focus. A shirtless photo of James from a photoshoot he remembered going to a year ago, his hair combed in sweeping motions and his eyelashes darkened by makeup, his face whitened as well. So articifical. He found himself frowning and critiquing himself, the pose he stood in and the overexpressive face he wore, before realizing what the existance of such a poster in such a place...meant.

It meant that Mercedes knew who he truly was. With such a useful piece of information now stored in his mind, James realized that the whole time, the girl had been trying to get at him. To steal him away from Carlos. She wasn't interested in Logan, only the famous popstar.

Could this "life-saving" plan really be turning in to such a disaster?

It was a bit hard to get this out, but I wasn't coming up with anything good, and I've been on vacation. Hope the Mercedes stuff is making this fanfic a bit more exciting. Anyway, please review!