Disclaimer: I still don't own Big Time Rush or anything recognizable in this chapter.

Maslover: I can't promise that Devon will stay away from James, but I guess we'll see...;) Thank you for taking the time to read and review! It's much appreciated!

Ring Daggers: I'm glad you're enjoying it! And I'm definitely continuing this story :) Thank you for reading and reviewing! I really appreciate it!

Guest: I'm definitely continuing this :) And thank you for reading and reviewing! I appreciate it so much!

Thank you for all the alerts! You guys are amazing!

A/N: So...I can't believe I have to say this, but some of you are probably going to get your hearts a little bit broken in this chapter. There were a lot of mixed feelings about Devon, and a lot of different opinions, most of which were very strong haha. And keep in mind, I did take your thoughts and feelings and opinions into account, but ultimately I had to listen to the characters. And I've probably just convinced half of you to click out of this story, but please come back! I need you! And seriously, there's always a reason why I put something into a story - it's rarely just for the hell of it.

Also, I said this in my update of "Raise The Curtain", but I'm going to say it again. I'm putting my other stories on a temporary hold so that I can focus on this story and RTC. The idea is to update more often, something that's been hard to do with work and school. Hopefully you guys don't mind the faster updates, but I'm sorry it means other stories won't be updated for a little while. And I said this in the update for RTC, but if you guys feel like I'm taking too long with a chapter, you can always spam me with reviews, PMs, on twitter, or on tumblr. :)

Enjoy the chapter :)

Chapter Eight – And No One Shuts Up

Katie's POV

On Monday morning, the entire school was buzzing with the news that James and Devon Riley had ended up at his mom's lake house. No one seemed to know what had happened, just that it had turned seriously steamy.

I rolled my eyes as I passed by a bunch of freshman girls gossiping about it in the middle of the hallway on my way to English class. Seriously? Did people not have better things to talk about than whether or not James and Devon had had sex? I mean, who the hell cared about that? It wasn't any of our business and besides, it was disgusting. Almost as disgusting as the sight I encountered as I walked by Devon's locker. James had her backed up against it, his hands in the back pockets of her jeans as he kissed her. Her arms were around his neck, pulling him closer as she tilted her head into the kiss.

So gross.

"Get a room!" I barked at them, before stalking into the English classroom. And not once did I think about what it would be like to be in Devon's position, to feel his body pressing me into the locker, to feel his lips hot and soft against mine, to feel his hands, a little too big, sliding into the back pockets of my jeans.

My face was burning by the time I took my seat, and I busied myself with starting the next chapter of the textbook reading we would be doing this week. Anything to get my mind off of James and his kissing techniques…anything.

I wondered if he used a lot of tongue.

Or if he was a biter.

Or if he was big on control.

For one insane second I contemplated asking Devon those questions, and then I realized just what exactly I was considering. I had clearly gone crazy, because I didn't want to know what it was like to kiss James, or what it felt to feel him nipping at my bottom lip as he gripped my ass. I didn't want to know at all.

I crossed my legs, gripping my pen a little bit harder than necessary.

James walked into the classroom at that point, hair a little messed up, shirt not quite straight, and mouth shiny with lip gloss.

I caught his eye and crooked my finger at him. He obediently strolled over to me, thumbs hooked in his jeans pockets. "What's up, Katie-Pie?"

"Katie-Pie? And you've got a little something here." I indicated my mouth.

"My new nickname for you. You like it? And how did I get something on your mouth? Last time I checked, I haven't been near your mouth since, like, almost forever."

"Not particularly. And I meant your mouth. Your girlfriend must have been wearing a shitload of lip gloss. Here." I passed him a tissue and he wiped the glitter off, before tossing it in the trash.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Normally I would have let you leave it on, but I figured since I'd have to see it I should do myself a favor and make you take it off."

"Wow, thanks."

"Anytime, Jamie-Pie," I said sweetly.

He winked at me. "I like that. You should call me that more often."

"Only in your dreams."

"And they'll be good ones." He winked at me again and headed over to his seat, leaving me with my mouth hanging open. What an arrogant jackass. Who the hell did he think he was? First he left the Burger Mill on Saturday evening with Devon, and now he was flirting with me. What a player.

I managed to get through class, though every few seconds I found myself glaring over at James, letting out huffy, indignant breaths.

For the first time ever, it was a relief to rush out of the English classroom and hurry towards my geometry class. I hated anything that had to do with math, but at least James wasn't in that particular class. I wouldn't have to see him again until lunch, three periods away. Three short, glorious periods away.

Geometry and French passed by way too quickly, and before long I found myself heading for the girls' locker room to change into the school regulated gym uniform. Even though we were going to be in the weight room, the school still wanted to make sure that we dressed "appropriately". I slipped into the designated shorts, t-shirt, and athletic shoes, before making my way to the weight room. Coach Carter was already there, leaning against the wall and jotting down notes on a clipboard.

"Um…can I talk to you for a sec?" I asked her once I had approached her.

She looked up at me from the clipboard. "What's up, Katie?"

I bit my lip, before beginning to explain about the bet with the boys' hockey team. "We really need to beat them, Coach. They'll never let us live it down if we don't. Will you help us?"

She looked at me for a long moment, before setting the clipboard down on a nearby weight machine and turning to face me again. "Are you kidding? I'll gladly take them down myself if I have to. I've wanted to wipe the self-satisfied smirk off of Coach Benson's face for the past five years…" She growled, clenching her fists.

"Um…cool. So…what first?"

"I'm going to have you – what are they doing here?!"

I spun around to find none other than Coach Benson and James leading the boys' hockey team through the weight room door. James waved at me cheerfully, a smirk on his face, and I growled just like Coach Carter. No way. No freaking way. Their weight room time was supposed to be last period, not this one!

I stormed over to James, closely followed by Coach Carter. "What do you think you're doing?" I hissed at James, poking him in the chest. I hoped my nail pierced his skin. "This is our time to train."

James looked at Benson. "You're up, Coach."

Coach Benson looked at Coach Carter and me, almost pityingly. Just being looked at like that was enough to make me want to scream and yank my hair out. "James told me about our kids' bet," he said to Carter. "And we thought that the best way to ensure that both teams are playing fair would be – "

Do not finish that sentence. Do not finish that sentence. Do not finish that –

" – if they trained together."

He finished the sentence.

"Are we talking just weight training?" Carter asked shrewdly. "Because I'm not going to have the girls practice on the ice with the boys. That's pushing the limits."

Benson raised his hands in surrender. "Of course not, Melanie. I wouldn't ask that of them."

"I don't want the boys training with us in here," I spoke up. "This is our time. How did you guys even get the schedule changed?"

James shrugged. "Not all of us are going to be training in here. Just a few of us." He smirked. "It works better for our schedules like this."

"Oh, I'm sure it does." I shot him a nasty look before stalking off to go warm up on one of the treadmills. I plugged into my iPod, mentally cussing James and Coach Benson out as vilely as I possibly could.

As the rest of the girls flowed into the room, James jumped on the treadmill next to mine, and I shot him another nasty look before yanking my earbuds out. "What the hell is your problem? Are you honestly worried that we're going to beat you?"

He snorted. "Please. You girls are good, but we're more aggressive. We have an immediate advantage."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. But I still don't get why you guys are here."

"Believe it or not, it wasn't my idea," James said, running his fingers through his hair. "It was Coach Benson's. I think he suggested it just so that he could annoy the crap out of Carter."

"Wow." I shook my head, before kicking the speed up on the treadmill. "Some things apparently never change."

"Apparently not." He began running as well, his bangs falling into his eyes. I glanced at him, fighting the insane urge to reach over and brush his bangs out of his face. What the hell was wrong with me?

"So," I said after a long moment of jogging. "Rumor has it some stuff went down at the lake house with you and Devon on Saturday night…"

James flashed me a wide grin. "Why, Katie, I didn't know you cared."

"I don't. I was just saying, I've heard rumors."

"And you're asking me about them. You're bringing them up. Jealous?"

"Ew! No! Stop accusing me of being jealous! I don't care what happened with you and Devon, I was just making conversation."

"Sure you were, Katie-Pie. Sure you were." He gave me a patronizing smile, and I growled again, before shutting the treadmill down and leaping off of it, heading over to the elliptical machine. There was only so much James Diamond I could take before I had to restrain myself from smacking him across the face.

The fifty minutes passed by slowly. I put as much energy and effort into my training as possible, but it was hard to stay focused when James kept popping up next to me, all sweaty and hot with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. Slapping him was sounding better and better.

Luckily, I was able to escape James next period. True, we both had lunch fifth period, but at least I didn't have to sit with him or look at him or act like he existed.

Which was exactly what I was doing when I stabbed my fork hard at my vegetarian lasagna, pretending it was James' face. The plastic fork broke in two.

"Damn, girl," Stephanie let out a low whistle. "Someone needs a good make out session."

"It's James!" I cried in frustration, gingerly picking the remains of the fork from my food. "He's driving me insane!"

"Like I said, someone needs a good make out session. And clearly it's you, and you need to make out with James. Maybe do some other things. Let all your aggression out in a moment of wild passion."

I stared at her. "Have you been reading erotica again?"

"Historical erotica. It makes me feel like I'm learning something."

I rolled my eyes and headed off to grab a new fork. I skirted past Devon Riley's table, who was currently whispering to her friends while sending furtive glances over towards where James was sitting with the rest of the boys' hockey team, a few tables over from them. All the girls were listening, wide-eyed. Either she was telling them how good James was in bed, or she was telling them that he was awful. And I really didn't want to know which.

The next few days passed by slowly. Stephanie was deeply immersed in her plans for her seventeenth birthday party, which would take place on Saturday, and the boys continued to show up at training. James used every opportunity possible to make a snarky, insulting, or sexually laden comment to me. I did my best to ignore him, though my version of ignoring him generally consisted of me stomping hard on his foot. And the bastard still didn't stop. On Tuesday afternoon after practice, we met up with the boys outside the locker rooms.

"So," James said, leaning against the wall, "we need to come up with a day for the first game. I personally think it should be Saturday afternoon, before Stephanie's party."

"Why?" Stephanie demanded.

"Think of your party as a celebration, both a victory and a pity party. It'll be fun. And it'll get our first game done and over with."

"Fine," I huffed out. "Saturday afternoon. Does one-o-clock work for everyone?"

There was a general consensus and we headed our separate ways.

On Thursday morning, I walked into the school to the wonderful sight of James with Devon. Only they weren't making out. They were fighting.

"I can't believe you told everyone that!" James shouted, eyes dark with anger. "You had no fucking right!"

"I just told them the truth!" Devon retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's not my fault you want to act all pure and innocent!"

"It's no one's business what we did or didn't do! You're unbelievable." He turned away, bumping into me.

I looked up at him. "What's going on? Are you okay?"

"No," he growled, stomping away.

I looked at Devon, who rolled her eyes, and stalked off in the opposite direction.

As I walked down the hall, I caught snippets of conversation – all about James and Devon. I was starting to get a pretty good idea about why James was so angry.

I caught up with Jo and Kristen, who were hanging in front of Jo's locker. "What's going on? Why is everyone talking about James and Devon? I just saw James bawling Devon out for something."

"Oh, she went and told her friends that she blew James last Saturday night," Kristen rolled her eyes.

I blinked. "Blew? As in…?"

"Yeah, she went down on him. I guess he returned the favor."

My stomach began rolling and suddenly I felt as if I was going to throw up the eggs and bacon I had had for breakfast. "Oh. Well, I don't get why he's so pissed. Shouldn't he be enjoying the fact that everyone knows that he hooked up with her? That he got to third base with her?"

Jo shrugged. "Apparently he wanted to keep it just between them. He said it wasn't anyone else's business but theirs."

"Well, he's right. Look – I'll – I'm going to head to the bathroom. See you guys later."

Before either of them could say anything, I dashed off to the nearest girl's restroom. A couple of sophomore girls were in there, washing their hands and reapplying their lip gloss. And they were talking about James.

"Yeah, according to Devon he's, like, ten inches hard."

"I heard it was a foot," another girl chimed in, smacking her lips together.

"At least eight inches," a third girl added in.

"Don't you guys have anything better to do than talk about James Diamond's penis size?" I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest.

The girls spun around to look at me, and their eyes widened.

"Oooh!" the girl who had said that James was a foot long cried. "You're Katie Knight! Do you know how big he is?"

"No!" I screamed. "And I don't want to, either!"

The first girl said, "I heard he didn't want to have sex with Devon because he's waiting for someone. Do you know who that might be?"

"Get out!" I pointed to the door so viciously that they hurriedly capped their lip gloss bottles and scurried out, leaving me alone in the restroom.

The whole world had gone insane. That was the only explanation for any of this. The whole world had gone bat shit crazy. It was why my friends were talking about what had gone on between James and Devon. It was why three fifteen year old girls were exchanging gossip about James' fucking dick. It was why I felt like throwing up at the thought of James doing anything with another girl.

No. Not another girl. Devon. Because I didn't want him doing anything with me…right?

Nevertheless, unbidden, an image of James lying me down on the couch in his family's lake house popped into my head. I closed my eyes and gripped the edge of a sink tightly. I could almost feel his lips against mine, his body weight as he lowered himself down on top of me, the way my heart rate seemed to spike – wait. That last one really was happening. My heart rate was speeding up dramatically and my body was suddenly flushed with heat.

Oh, shit.

When was I going to accept that, on some level, I was attracted to James? It wasn't an emotional attraction – at least, I didn't think it was – but it was physical. It would explain the jealousy over James and Devon, and why I had just managed to get a little bit overheated at the thought of James kissing me like that. Especially when I knew where his mouth and tongue had been.

Gross.

And just like that, the nausea bubbled up, followed by something that felt like…anger. Rage. Possessiveness.

And oh my gosh, I was going crazy. I was really torn up over this. But that was ridiculous. I had known that something had happened between James and Devon. But it hadn't been confirmed…and now it had.

I pursed my lips together, fighting back the lump that was steadily growing in my throat. My eyes stung and as I looked in the mirror, I could see a definite tremble to my bottom lip. I was going to cry. Over a stupid boy. A boy I didn't even like that much. A pain in the ass. My pain in the ass.

Hmmph.

I crossed my arms, fighting to get my emotions under control. I managed to get the lump in my throat mostly dissipated, and I walked out of the restroom and towards my locker, shoulders back, head up, determined to ignore the whispers about James and Devon.

The second I reached the English classroom, my plan vanished as I was assaulted with the whispers and the murmurs. And sitting on the other side of the room, listening to his iPod and looking like he was wishing the earth would swallow him whole, was the source of my frustration.

I paused, half tempted to go over to talk to him, to make sure he was okay, but something told me he wasn't in the mood to have a friendly conversation with anyone, so I reluctantly took my seat.

James was quiet through class. Usually he was a huge showoff, reminding everyone that he had an A in this class, but today he kept to himself. I glanced over at him at one point. His arms were folded on his desk, his face buried in them. Normally our teacher would have made a comment about how he clearly wasn't paying attention, but today she didn't say anything. She just went on with the lesson.

I didn't see James again until training. He was already there when I walked in. He was running on the treadmill, faster than I had ever seen him go. He clearly had the speed on high.

I tightened my ponytail and hopped onto the treadmill next to his, starting a fast-paced walk to begin warming my body up. "So…what Devon did was really bitchy."

He glanced at me and yanked his earbuds out of his ears. "What?"

"What Devon did…that was really bitchy. You're right, it isn't anyone's business but yours."

James blinked at me. "Oh, you've heard the rumors."

"And you two arguing this morning," I reminded him.

"Well, that's fucking great, Katie. But you don't even know the worst of it."

"It's worse than her spreading your guys' personal business around the school?"

He laughed bitterly. "Yeah, you could say that." He stopped the treadmill and leapt down, strolling over towards the weights, but I wasn't letting him go that easily.

I brought my own treadmill to a halt and jumped down, hurrying after him. I grabbed his arm, yanking him around to face me. "Look, it's none of my business – "

"Damn straight it's not."

" – But on some level I do care about you. I think."

"Go to hell, Katie."

"I'm serious. I've known you for most of my life. You're a pain in the ass but, in some weird way, you're my pain in the ass. And I don't like seeing you so upset. You look like she ripped your chest open, tore your heart out, and stomped all over it."

"That's a pretty accurate description."

"What happened?" Without meaning to, I slipped my fingers from his arm down to his hand. He stared at our interlocked fingers as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. I quickly pulled my hand away, but didn't step back. "What happened, Jamie?" The childhood nickname felt both foreign and familiar in my mouth, like a French word that I had said once but couldn't quite remember the meaning of.

James sighed, running his hand over his face like he was tired. Maybe he was. And then he took my hand, pulling me into a corner out of earshot of anyone else in the room before saying, "She didn't really like me. Not that much. She told me she was only going out with me because she wanted to sleep with me. Or, as she put it, she wanted to pop my cherry. She wasn't interested in me as a person. She just wanted my body. Or, well, my dick."

I bit my lip as sympathy for him crashed over me like a tidal wave.

"She said – she said she was doing me a favor, that I should be glad that she let me fool around with her and that she spread the word about what happened. But – " he swallowed hard. "That was my first time, that was the first time I've ever gone past making out with anyone. And it didn't mean jack to her."

I rubbed his arm sympathetically. Sometimes it was hard to remember that girls could screw boys over, too, that boys weren't always the bad guys.

"I didn't want everyone to know," he whimpered. "And now everyone in the whole fucking school knows the details! They know how long I lasted, my size, whether I got her to orgasm – which I did, by the way – what I sound like when I'm turned on."

I could tell he was about to break down, so I did the only thing I could do. I called to our coaches that we were going to take a breather, and hustled him out the door. I led him up to the greenhouse that sat on the roof, overlooking the grounds. This time of year it would be pretty much empty and it would be heated, so we wouldn't freeze to death.

I locked the door behind us and turned back to him, before wrapping my arms around him. He was so much bigger than me, but he felt so fragile at that moment, like he might break apart at the smallest touch.

He didn't. Instead, he leaned into me, and we slowly sank to the floor, our backs against the wall. And he broke down. I held him tightly as his body racked with ashamed and embarrassed sobs, his face buried in my chest. I stroked his hair, not saying anything.

"I didn't want everyone to know," he whimpered again.

"I know." I threaded my fingers through his hair, rocking him gently.

"It's not fair."

"It's not."

"I didn't want you to know."

"Shhhh…it's going to be okay."

He finally calmed down enough to straighten up.

We sat side by side for a few moments, before he asked, "Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why did you – why did you bring me up here?"

"You were about to break down. You needed privacy."

"Why did you stay with me? Why – why did you comfort me?"

"I may not like you, but I do care about you, and I know you feel the same way. And you don't deserve what she did to you. That was seriously fucked up. And I doubt you've talked to the guys about it."

"Guys don't really talk about that kind of stuff. Besides, they all think I'm, like, Superman or something now."

"Case and point. You needed to get it out, you were bottling your feelings up inside and that's not good. Do you feel better now?"

He nodded.

"Good."

I stood up, stretching out. Having a six foot two, one-hundred-and-seventy-five pound hockey player whimper into your chest can really knot up your body.

James didn't move. "Katie?"

I paused. It was strange hearing him call me by my given name, rather than by my last name. "Yeah?"

"I'm glad it was you who I – I talked to, and not the guys."

I flashed back to Saturday evening at the Burger Mill, when the boys' hockey team had completely ripped James' captaincy skills apart and I was the only one who spoke up for him.

"Yeah," I said after a moment. "I am, too."

He gave me a small smile, before frowning. "Did you get hall passes?"

"Uh…no…"

"Guess we'll have to sneak back to the weight room." He got to his feet.

"Or we could stay up here," I suggested, checking the clock hanging on the wall. "The bell's going to ring in about five minutes anyway."

"Oh, fuck. I didn't realize I was out of it for that long."

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on telling anyone."

"Thanks." There was a long pause, and then he asked, "So, I'm your pain in the ass?"

"Yes. You're my pain in the ass, the same way I'm yours. And I'd be a little hurt if you started becoming a pain in the ass to someone else."

"Aww, that's so suh-weet!" he mock-cooed.

"Oh, fuck off."

"Come here." He pulled me into a huge bear hug.

"Ooof – get – off – of – me!"

He patted the top of my head, effectively messing up my hair. I glared up at him and he grinned. "I see you're back to normal," I gritted out.

"Yep." He smacked my ass and I yelped. "I'm back to being your pain in the ass."

I groaned in response.

So, how many of you want to kill me? Actually, never mind. I'm just gonna...yeah...I'll be hiding in my closet...

On another note...reviews are more than welcome :)