Hey, hey, hey! How's everybody doing? Big internet hugs to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and who waited oh so very patiently for the next one. You guys rock my socks off!
Disclaimer: I do not own BTR.
A week passed and James' family reluctantly returned to Minnesota, promising to come visit again soon. The guys went to the studio once or twice a week since James just couldn't handle anything more than that. His hair was being found all over the apartment. In the drain, on pillows he had been resting on, the floors, basically anything that pulled even a little on his hair would pull it right out. The paparazzi were always hanging around the Palm Woods, trying to get pictures of James and his friends, so they spent most of their time in the apartment.
Another week passed and another chemo session came and went. Kendall, James, Carlos, Logan, Katie, and Mrs. Knight all started to settle into a routine. After the initial shock of James' cancer finally set in, everyone at the Palm Woods started to accept what was happening to James and he didn't get weird looks every time he went down to the pool or the lobby. That didn't mean that whenever James got passed the paparazzi and actually went outside the Palm Woods other people didn't stare at him.
There were typically two types of looks James would get whenever he ventured out into public. There were the looks he got when people didn't understand what was wrong with him, some would take on look at his rapidly thinning hair and might even laugh. Other looks were those filled with pity, people who saw how hard it was for James to lift anything heavier than ten pounds or how tired he was.
James couldn't decide which look he hated more.
The one where people gave him looks like he was a freak or even laughed hurt. It hurt him to listen to the comments someone would make to their friend and listen to them giggle. It hurt to see the looks that made him feel like he didn't belong, like he was a freak of nature. They had no right to judge James, they didn't even understand how sick he truly was.
Then there were the people who did get it, the people who realized he had cancer. The looks those people gave him were filled with pity and concern, and those looks made James feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. Sometimes their kids would pull on their mother's blouse and ask them what was wrong with that boy. James, of course, would hear them and, of course, their mothers would quickly apologize and try to drag their children away. James appreciated their sympathy, but he wished he didn't need it.
After his third chemo session, James' hair was falling at rate he didn't know possible and a week before his fourth session, James woke up and found the last of it lying innocently on his pillow.
"How you holding up?" Kendall asked James after the last of his hair had finally fallen out.
"I'll be ok," James responded as he got out a bowl and a box of cereal. "I just… wish that… you know."
"Yeah," Carlos responded. "It'll get easier."
"I hope."
Another week passed and so did yet another chemo session. After his fourth chemo session, the doctors decided to change his schedule from a session every two weeks to once a month. James never ventured outside the apartment without Kendall's beanie, always fearing of how people would view him. He always told his friends he wore it because it kept his head warm, but they all knew it wasn't the truth.
It was no secret that James' appearance was extremely important to him. His appearance made him who he was, at least according to James. When the last of his hair fell out, it was like a part of him fell out too. Every time James looked in the mirror, James felt a twinge of hurt flash across his chest. He didn't even carry his lucky comb around in his back pocket, something that greatly concerned the other residents of 2J. They were afraid of James becoming depressed over his condition, and they were willing to do anything to stop that.
"So…" Carlos said one particularly boring day. "What do you guys want to do?"
"We could play a video game," Kendall said while absent mindlessly playing with the fabric of his shirt.
"We could go to the pool," Logan suggested.
"Why don't we go see a movie?" asked James.
"Are you sure, James?" Logan said. "Are you tired? 'Cause if you're not feeling strong enough, we should just stay here."
"I'm fine, Logan!" James moaned. "Face it, there's nothing else here that we haven't done in the past two days. I'm starting to go stir crazy!"
Kendall completely agreed with James. Since they all refused to leave James for more than an hour, they had done practically everything there was to do in the apartment. If James said he was strong enough, Kendall wasn't about to argue with him. "Ok, I'll just go let my mom know and we can go. And don't worry about bringing any money, it's on me." Kendall quickly got up in search for his mother while James went to their room to get his beanie.
After Mrs. Knight was informed of where the four boys would be, Kendall, James, Carlos, and Logan found themselves pushing passed photographers to get the Big Time Rush Mobile. Logan got into the driver's seat, Kendall had shotgun, and James and Carlos climbed into the back. They decided to go to the dollar movie located about ten minutes away and decided what to go see when they got there. Ten minutes later, Logan pulled into the parking lot of Cinema 8 Movie Theater and parked into the closest spot he could find.
Everybody unbuckled their seat belts, opened their car doors, and climbed out. Kendall got into the line and pulled out his wallet. Once he got to the front, he handed the man working there his money and he handed Kendall four tickets for The Smurfs. Kendall handed each boy their ticket and they all walked into the movie theater. They bought one, large popcorn to share between them and settled down to watch the movie.
After it finished, the four boys stumbled out, laughing about something Carlos had said. They didn't even notice the two boys about their age, maybe a little older, standing off to the side, staring at James and stifling a laugh. After a couple of minutes, one of them said something to the other, who in turn, started walking towards Big Time Rush.
"Nice beanie," he told James, his little friend standing behind him. "Mind if I take a closer look?"
"Yeah, I actually do," James said. He did not like where this was going.
"Well, I don't," the boy said. Then, suddenly, he quickly reached up and snatched the gray beanie off of James' head. As soon as James' bald head was revealed, the two boys burst out in laughter. Immediately, Kendall, Carlos, and Logan tensed behind James.
"Nice haircut," the other boy said between his laughs. "Oh, wait, in order to have a haircut you would actually need, uh, hair!"
James didn't know what to do. While the two boys kept laughing, James just stood there, with his head hanging in shame. He didn't try to defend himself, he just took it. And seeing James standing there with his head hanging, listening as the two boys laughed at him, that was all Kendall could take. He stepped in front of James and towards the two boys, despite Logan's efforts to hold him back.
"What is your problem?" Kendall asked, anger dripping from his voice. This only caused the two boys to laugh even harder. Tears flooded into James' eyes, threatening to spill over, but James wouldn't let them. They did not deserve the satisfaction of seeing James cry like a little baby.
Kendall looked at James, saw the tears in his eyes, and he felt an anger that was so strong, it was foreign to even him. Before James, Carlos, or Logan could react to what was happening, Kendall pounced. He jumped onto the closer boy and punched him square in the nose. Hot blood poured from his nostrils, but Kendall didn't stop. He kept hitting him, ignoring the boy's pleas for him to stop.
After a few moments, the boy's friend snapped out of his shock and tried to pry Kendall off his friend. However, this only earned him a hard elbow delivered to his eye by Kendall. He clutched his eye and staggered backwards, but Kendall still didn't stop. James, Carlos, and Logan just stood off to the side, mouths hanging open, not exactly sure what to do. Then, as suddenly as the fight started, it was over, Kendall being pulled off the boy by two employees of the movie theater. While two other employees held Kendall back, two other employees help the two boys up and held the back too.
"What is going on here?" one of the employees asked.
"Ask them," Kendall responded, hatred in his voice.
"We didn't do anything at all!" said the boy with blood still flowing from his nose. "He just attacked us out of nowhere!"
"That's not true!" Carlos called out from behind. "They were making fun of James! Kendall was just standing up for him!"
The four employees looked at James and when they saw James' bald head and sickly appearance, they expressions softened. "Is that true?" one asked.
One boy sighed. "It's not our fault he's too much of a baby to take a joke! We didn't even do anything that bad! He's just a baby!"
"Freak…" the other muttered under his breath. James was the only one who heard him.
All four employees sighed. "All of you, just… get out! And don't come back!" They all pushed the three boys out the door, James, Carlos, and Logan following behind. Kendall gave the two other boys one last glare before turning and leading his friends back to the car.
"Do you realize what you could have done?" Logan lectured Kendall once they got back to the apartment. Kendall was currently sitting on the couch in 2J, holding an ice pack to his cheek where one of the boys had managed to punch him while Logan lectured his usual lecture he had whenever Kendall's anger got out of hand. "You could have gone to jail! You're lucky all the theater did was kick us out! Do you really think you pounding the snot out of those guys were what James needed? No! We could have just walked away, we could have even told them off, but what did you do? You went Godzilla on them! Do you understand what would have happened if they pressed charges or something? The media would have had a feeding frenzy!"
"I thought it was funny," Carlos commented as he took a bite out of his sandwich. "Besides they deserved it. I think Kendall was right for beating them up."
"Violence never solves anything, Carlos," Logan breathed out.
"It made them stop making fun of James, didn't it?" Kendall said as he stood up and put the ice pack down. "They were asking for it anyways! It's not my fault!"
And so it began between Kendall and Logan. They were both talking at the same time, each one raising their voice so they could be heard. Once they were about one notch under screaming at each other, James decided to step in.
"Stop it, you guys!" James yelled. "Just stop it! You're both idiots!"
"Excuse me?" Logan asked, turning to James and crossing his arms.
Kendall did the same. "Yeah, James, what was that?"
"You heard me! You're both idiots! Logan, stop being such a pansy, and Kendall, I don't need you to fight my battles for me! I could have handled those guys! But you didn't give me the chance to do that! I swear, I getting pretty sick of all of you treating me like I'm a baby!" James yelled.
Carlos put his sandwich down. "We're just trying to help-"
"I know, Carlos! That's all you ever tell me! 'I'm just trying to help, I'm just trying to make you feel better', blah, blah, blah! I don't care about your reasons! Don't you get it? I don't want your help!" James looked like he was getting pretty tired from all this yelling.
"You may not want it, but you need our help, James!" Kendall yelled. "Stop being such a priss and let us help you! Let us fight your battles for once! Just let us in!"
Kendall's voice sounded almost pleading, something James was not used to. Immediately, he felt guilty for yelling at his three best friends. "I'm sorry, ok? I'm sorry I don't let you in and I'm sorry I don't let you help! I really do appreciate all you do for me. Kendall, seeing you beat up those guys for me made me feel so great, as horrible as that sounds. Carlos, you've been so patient and supportive, never getting mad when I get mad or frustrated at you. Logan, you've always been there to get me whatever I need, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. You guys have been so great, and I've been such a brat… I don't see why you guys don't hate me by now. I know I do."
Carlos was the first to respond. "James, we could never hate you. You have been so strong and selfless throughout this whole thing, and I admire you so much for that. It's alright to get mad, to get frustrated, we don't think any less of you."
"Yeah, James," Logan agreed. "We'll always be here for you. No matter how mad that makes you." Logan smiled and James smiled back.
Kendall sat back down. "James, you need to stop thinking about us, ok? You have to learn how to think about yourself with something like this! And I don't care what you say, if anyone messes with any of my friends, I will not hesitate to beat the life out of them. You should all know that by now."
James smiled, even if he still felt insecure about what those boys said. "You guys are the best."
That's right! I did it! I made James bald AND I made these punk kids make fun of him! But I think I make up for it by Kendall beating the snot out of them PLUS they got to see The Smurfs! Lol, I got this chapter out earlier than I expected, and be expecting another one either Friday or Saturday. Until then, please review and have a great week!