Chapter 2:
Do You Wanna Be Famous?
All four girls stared at each other, completely awestruck at the question.
"Uh, duh!" Cecilia said, "At least, I wanna give it a try."
"I look like I should be famous." Trista raised her hand, "I'm in."
"I really don't like this! I mean, yeah, I'd like to be famous, but I'd rather dance. I don't like to sing. I'm not a good singer." Kaity said, biting at her bottom lip.
"Kaity, what you just did was great!" Cecilia said.
"Yeah, it wasn't bad at all." Kelly reassured, "If it were bad, I probably wouldn't have come over here. Think of it like that."
"Fine, I'm going to get out numbered anyway." Kaity raised her hand, pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose with her free hand.
"I'm not too keen on this either. I mean, sure, we go there and we make a demo, get signed and become famous, it's all worth it. What if we don't though? We'll have wasted all of that time for nothing." Elizabeth said.
"That's the risk you've got to be willing to take." Kelly said, "The greats of today's music industry didn't just sit back and wait for the perfect opportunity, they took risks."
"Plus," Kaity said, putting on a convincing voice, "If we go, I bet 'cha you'll meet Kendall Knight."
Elizabeth eyed her before looking back at Kelly, who was smiling hopefully, "Fine, I'm in."
"Alrighty then, we'll leave for Los Angeles tomorrow morning. If I can get all of your cell numbers in here," she handed her expensive high tech phone over to Kaity first, "I'll contact you all, and speak with your parents."
Kaity went to find the contacts but brought up texts, "Oh my God, you've been texting Logan Mitchell and Drake?"
"Logan wanted to find something in the studio and Drake…we're working on a collaboration." She said.
"Woah!" she gasped, finally finding the contacts, typing in her number, "There"
She handed the phone over to her left to Elizabeth. It went down the line until it got back to Kelly.
"Like I said, I'll contact you all tonight, be prepared to leave tomorrow." She said, "Oh, and if you'll follow me back to the limo, I can give you information about Rocque Records and our recording contracts."
"A limo?" Cecilia said.
"Duh, she's a freakin' celebrity manager! She's gonna have a limo!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
After getting the papers, they went back into the school, still in awe of what happened.
"She'll never call!" Kaity said, "I mean, really? You think someone's just gonna walk up to us and promise us fame, fortune, and boys and it come true just like that? Please, it sounds like a joke."
"Or a dream come true!" Elizabeth said.
"There is no way this is actually going to happen! We aren't a band! We're a dancer, a legit musician, a color guard member, and theater kid. That's not exactly the makings of a great pop group." She said.
"Well, we'll see who's joking tonight after we get our phone call." Trista smiled, flipping her dark brown hair.
"Whatever…" Kaity trailed off, picking her physics stuff off the top of her locker, heading away from the other girls.
"She so needs to calm down sometimes."
That afternoon, the girls all headed back to Kaity's house to await Kelly's phone call.
"Is your mom here?" Cecilia asked as they approached the front door.
"Psh, no." Kaity replied, sliding the tie dye colored key into the lock until the door came open.
"Thank God" Elizabeth said, pushing a piece of dirty blonde hair behind her ear.
Kaity's mom had a distinct reputation for being uptight, a neat freak, and rather rude at times.
"I know, right." Kaity agreed as they walked into the house.
She locked the door back before they all headed upstairs and into Kaity's room. They were in the middle of doing homework when Cecilia's phone went off first.
"You don't think?" Elizabeth asked as Cecilia dove for her phone out of her purse.
"Hello?" she answered, not even looking at the caller ID.
The other three girls leaned in, trying to listen carefully.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You must have the wrong number."
Three loud sighs filled the room as Cecilia hung up her phone and sat it down beside her.
"That was jank!" Trista said, slamming her Algebra book angrily.
Elizabeth nodded in agreement, "I got all excited for nothing."
"This right here is my swag, all the girls are on me down…"
"Kaity," Trista began, "What's your ringtone?"
"Pretty Boy…oh my God!" Kaity raised up to her knees quickly, grabbing her phone off her bed before plopping back down.
"Ah!" she exclaimed, "Unknown name, unknown number!"
"Yes!" Cecilia said, pushing her books aside.
"Hi, Kaity here!" she said cheerily as she listened closely, "Yeah, actually, we're all here, so I can put you on speaker and save you the time of calling the rest of them!"
Kaity pulled the phone away from her ear and hit the speaker button on the side, sitting it in the center of the circle.
"Hey ladies, Kelly here, I just wanted to double check that you don't have any second thoughts about any of this." She said.
"No way!" Cecilia said, "Make us famous!"
"Alrighty then, can I get everyone's parents numbers where I can call them too. Also, tomorrow, you will need at least one parental supervisor with you in California." She said.
"Um…Trista lives with her dad so, no. My mom…no…" Kaity trailed off.
"My mom can do it, probably!" Cecilia spoke up.
"Yeah, her mom's probably the cooler of all of our parents." Elizabeth said.
"Okay, I'll ask her when I call her. Now, can you all go around and say your name and then give me your parents' home and cell numbers?" Kelly asked.
"For sure!" Trista said.
They all went around giving home and cell numbers as Kelly wrote them down back in her hotel room, "Alright, tomorrow morning, we'll meet at the airport at five…"
"In the morning?" Elizabeth gasped.
"Yes, five in the morning." She said, "Anyway, and then we'll depart and you should be checking into the Palm Woods hotel around one or two."
"The Palm Woods?" Cecilia asked, "A.K.A., home of the future famous?"
"Oh my gosh, we're the future famous!" Trista exclaimed.
"Okay, okay, don't get ahead of yourselves. You have a long road ahead of you, but if you persevere, I believe you can do it." She said.
"Alright, I'll hopefully see you ladies bright and early tomorrow!"
"Bye Kelly!" They all said at once.
"We need to be packing!" Kaity exclaimed, "We're going to Hollywood!"
After a long flight to LA in the morning, the girls boarded a limo that headed down the famous Hollywood strip.
"Oh my gosh! This is unreal!" Cecilia said, looking out the window.
"Hey, it's our turn now!" Trista pulled on the side of Kaity's plaid leggings as she put her hands up through the sunroof with Elizabeth.
"Hollywood, baby!" Kaity yelled.
"We're going to be famous!" Elizabeth said, high fiving Kaity.
When the limo pulled up at the Palm Woods, the girls got out, grabbing their luggage.
"Woah…" Elizabeth said, staring up at the tall building.
"We are officially part of the future famous." Cecilia said.
"Okay, so I'm going to get you all checked in and show you your room, then we're going to take a trip to 2J and introduce you to, hopefully, your brother band." Kelly smiled.
"No way!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"Big"
"Time"
"Rush!"
"Woah…" Kaity said, "This is beyond unreal!"
"You mean, I'm going to meet Kendall Knight?" Elizabeth said slowly.
"Yes, now pick your jaw up off the floor and come on! Cool it, you'll be fine!" Trista said, patting Elizabeth on the back slightly.
"Okay girls, come with me." Kelly led them inside of the hotel to the front desk where a large man was behind the counter shouting into a phone.
Cecilia looked at the man and then looked at the other three girls curiously. The man finally slammed the phone back down onto the holder and then sighed in frustration. He looked back up and smiled until seeing Kelly, which made his face drop.
"You again, what did the hooligans do now that I'm unaware of?" he asked.
"Well, nothing. I'm here to check in Cecilia McNatt, Elizabeth Naylor, Trista Hart, and Kaity Vaughan. Gustavo should have called or emailed." Kelly said.
"Oh yes, he did. Why does he insist on bringing me more issues?" he groaned.
"His name's Bitters…" Kaity whispered to Elizabeth, "That explains so much."
Bitters looked up at Kaity and frowned, "Room 2V, have a Palm Woods day."
He practically tossed the set of room keys to Kelly before turning back to his computer, complaining under his breath.
"I really don't like him." Kaity said as they walked off.
"Uh, no one does." Kelly said as they boarded the elevator.
"There are so many people here!" Cecilia said.
"Oh my gosh, Jett Stetson!" Trista said, reaching towards the door as it shut right in front of her.
"What?" Elizabeth said.
"Jett Stetson was right outside of that door! I'm not kidding!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah, he lives here." Kelly said, "So does Jo Taylor, his co-star."
"Oh I hate her!" Elizabeth snapped.
"You only hate her because she's linked with Kendall!" Kaity said.
"Same reason you used to hate Miley Cyrus when you went through the Jonas phase. Nick Lucas isn't even that cute!" she retorted.
Kaity rolled her eyes as the elevator came to a stop, letting them off on the second floor. They walked out and headed down the hallway into 2V.
When Kelly swung the door open, the girl's jaws dropped a little. The room was decorated in black and white everything, had gorgeous wood flooring and a huge window with a bay seat.
"Welcome home, girlies." Kelly said with a smile.
"This place is banging!" Cecilia said.
Kaity nodded in agreement, "This is amazing!"
"Yeah, ever since the Palm Woods screwed over Big Time Rush when they showed up, Gustavo's demanded nicer rooms for our projects." Kelly said.
"Well, this place is awesome." Elizabeth said.
"So, if you girls will just drop your stuff off, we can head down to 2J to see BTR." She said.
The sound of four huge luggage bags hitting the ground at once filled the room.
"Let's go!" They all said at once.
They followed Kelly down the hallway. Kaity was biting her lip, trying to hold back her grin and keep her cool. Elizabeth was breathing heavily, the thought of meeting Kendall Knight was taking her over. Trista was obsessively reapplying lip gloss, and Cecilia was tagging along near the back humming "The City is Ours".
Kelly knocked on the door of 2J a few times before it came swinging open, Carlos Garcia on the other side.
"Yo, Kelly ,what's…"
That's when he noticed the four girls standing almost timidly behind her.
"Woah…" Carlos said, "Come on in, guys, for real."
All four girls exchanged knowing looks with each other excitedly as they came in.
"Yo, guys, come down here!" Carlos yelled.
"I'm already down here. What are you yelling about, now?" Logan turned around on the orange couch.
Kaity caught his motion and looked him dead in the eye, locking their stares. He stood up quickly, heading over to where the girls were just as Kendall came barreling down the swirly slide.
"Carlitos, where'd the girls come from?" he asked, and then looked at Kelly, "What's up?"
"Not much, as soon as James gets down here I'll…"
"Woah! Give me like, five, no, ten minutes! I'll be back!"
SLAM!
"Sorry about that." Kendall apologized, "My guess is he looked down here, saw you guys, and decided he wasn't…presentable."
"You have got to be kidding me!" Kelly exclaimed, "One of you guys, tell James to spray on some Cuda and get down here! They have an appointment with Gustavo at six!"
"JAMES!" Carlos screamed.
Kelly put her face to her forehead and shook her head as James finally came down the slide, mumbling the whole way down and over to where the girls were standing.
"Girls, Big Time Rush. BTR, girls." Kelly said, "The girls are Gustavo's new, unnamed, project."
The girls lined up in a line of four in front of the boys, who did the same. Cecila was in front of James. She looked him up and down approvingly a few times as he messed with his hair uncomfortably, looking for anything to check his reflection in. Trista was aligned with Carlos. She raised an eyebrow, looking at him rather funny as he slapped his helmet up on his head, hitting it twice before looking at all four girls. Elizabeth and Kendall were face to face, both looking at each other with a very similar curious expression on their faces. Kaity and Logan were across from each other. Kaity shot him a few flirty glances as he bit his lip and smiled at her a few times.
"I'm Cecilia. I'm seventeen. I like music, and until yesterday, I was normal." She smiled.
"I'm Trista. I'm sixteen, almost seventeen. I like to shop, and I'm going to miss marching band, but I'm not a band geek like that." She nodded.
"I'm Elizabeth, uh, I 'm an actress. This singing this is going to be weird, sort of. Oh, and I can be pretty badass at times, if I say so myself." She laughed.
Kelly sighed dramatically as the girls and guys both laughed.
"Hey, I'm Kaity. I'm seventeen, and I'm going to be completely out of my element. I don't really like to sing, because I don't think I can. Oh, and I'm a hip hop dancer and competitive cheerleader, so yeah, pop-y dancing? Not me, and I'm really studious, so this is killing me that I'm missing school for this." She said, "I wanted to go Ivy, but this next month is going to kill me if we make it past Gustavo."
Logan's eyes widened at her, "Which Ivy?"
"Harvard"
"For?"
"Law"
"I'm Logan," he held his hand out to her, "I wanted to be a doctor before becoming a pop star, and I think I just developed a liking for the movie Legally Blonde."
Kaity shook his hand, giggling furiously, her cheeks lighting up, a bright red.
"Okay, I'm James. I usually am a lot hotter than this, and I wanted to be a pop star from the beginning." James said.
"I'm Carlos. I like hockey, long walks down the beach…oh, and corndogs!" He said happily.
"Kendall Knight, I'm just a part of the four hockey players from Minnesota that became a band in LA." He said.
"Okay, girls, so it's now, three thirty. You have two and a half hours to do whatever until your meeting with Gustavo." Kelly said.
"Well, you guys could chill here. We could show you around the Palm Woods, play video games, head down to the pool, whatever." Kendall smiled.
"Well, I'm in!" Elizabeth smiled.
"Me too" Kaity grinned.
"Just remember to be in the lobby by three o clock at the latest! Freight Trane, Gustavo's body guard will be there to pick you up then." She said.
"Alright, bye!" Kaity waved in her direction.
"So, it's Kaity, right?" Logan asked her.
Kaity nodded, "Yes sir, Logan, right?"
He nodded with a laughed, "Yep, so…er…these your best friends?"
"Yep," she said, "just like you guys, I guess. So, I've heard you're kind of the brains behind the group too."
"I guess so. They call me the Big Time Brains." He smiled, "So, just wondering, um, yeah, can I…"
"Huh?" she asked, looking closer at him.
He looked rather nervous, playing with the sleeves of his sweater, digging down into his pants pocket. He withdrew his phone and held it out, dropping his eyes to the floor.
"So, I definitely hope we get to your level." Elizabeth smiled, playing with the end of a curly lock of hair, "I'm a huge fan."
"That's awesome." Kendall said, "You have to start somewhere. So, I feel like I have to ask any girl this for my own reasons. Do you like hockey?"
"Yes! Are you kidding? Greatest sport ever."
"Do you like corn dogs?" Carlos asked Trista.
"No, too much fats and oils."
"Do you like hockey?"
"Ew, I have no wish or want to have my teeth knocked out."
"Walks on the beach or shoe shopping?"
"Ah, now you're talking my language."
"You're much cuter in person than on the posters in Elizabeth's room." Cecilia grinned at James.
"You're pretty cute too." He said, "I've always been into a pretty, tanned girl. I tried tanning once…not good."
"I don't tan, it's natural." She grinned, "Oh, and what do you have on? Don't take this creepy or anything, but you smell amazing."
"'Cuda Man Spray"
"Ah, I dig it."
Even if all of their conversations weren't going well, or what the subject matter may be, they all seemed to end the same.
"Do you wanna hang out tomorrow?"
"We should all get together tomorrow."
"We should all chill by the pool tomorrow!"
"You wanna chill tomorrow?"
There seemed to be a mutual answer to.
"Yeah"
"Of course!"
"Okay, sounds fine."
"For sure."