Chapter 6 Bouncing around...
Katie Knight had always had big dreams. They involved large sums of money and the idea of managing huge celebrities. She knew she could do it. She could get anything done and everyone knew it. Whether it was by use of her puppy dog eyes, a trait learned from her big brother Carlos, or by using her evil side, the trait learned from Kendall, her brother by blood.
Scheming was her biggest asset and some people feared her. But she did get the job done, which was why everyone wanted her as their manager when she finally set up her talent agency 8 years ago. She proved just how good she was by single handedly organizing Russel Brand's beach party over 12 years ago. He tried to refuse her. After all, he couldn't have a ten year old for a manager. But she proved him wrong and in the end he was the first to sign a contract with her.
She was eternally grateful to her four big brothers, although only one blood related, for allowing her the chance to go to LA with them. With six years age difference, they all looked after her in their own way. They knew she could take care of herself. Heck, they even called her in for help sometimes when they needed a plan against their evil record producer Gustavo or the company manager Griffin. Even though they went there for the guys to become a band, Katie used the opportunity to get her own dreams realized.
Her first experience with Russel Brand launched her name into Hollywood. People were skeptical at first, laughed at her for even trying. But she never gave up. And after a while, they started to realize she wasn't just a teenager, a kid. She was the manager to have if you wanted to make it big. And one single phone line in their Palm Woods apartment eventually lead to Katie Knight Talent Agency with hundreds of celebrities and more wanting to sign on every she had to put a stop to all the entries and now everyone has to go through a difficult selection procedure and even then be placed on a long waiting list.
It is hard work, but she is loving it. Life in Hollywood is everything she ever wanted. Well, almost everything. She misses her family. And she especially misses her four brothers. Logan, the smart one, who could always help her with homework assignments and play dangerous pranks on the others. After pranking himself each year, he decided to team up with her, which lead to her becoming Lord of the Pranks for the last consecutive years. Which wasn't long, since every one of the guys succumbed to the Hollywood Fever soon enough.
She also missed James, the pretty boy, who only seemed to care about himself and how he looked. She knew differently, though. She knew his overprotective side when it came to her and dating. It was something she hated, but loved at the same time.
Then there was Carlos, the lovable goofball of the bunch. He wasn't the smartest, but his caring and goodhearted nature more than made up for it. Whenever she was feeling down, he was the one to cheer her up. Plus, she loved the way he asked her for help. There were times where she was the one who was protecting him from being so trusting and gullible all the time. But she also knew he did it on purpose at times, to give her a chance to not be treated like a child and someone needed her to be the big sister. She was grateful for it. And he gave the best hugs. Which she didn't like. At all. Okay, so she really missed them. But once you had a Carlitos hug, you could never go back.
And Kendall, the only one who was actually her brother, by blood. Despite their age difference of six years, they were close. He protected her, like all of her brothers. But he also let her see how talented she was and made sure she felt special and loved. It was hard when their dad died, but Kendall had stepped in right away as the new father figure and man of the house. She had looked up to him as he also became a leader figure for the other guys.
But that is what made it all the more difficult to understand why he started to change. She had seen the others get Hollywood Fever before. Kendall had been the one to bring them back. But as they all went back to normal, he seemed to succumb to the pressures himself. He became bitter, lashing out at everyone and even worse, starting fights with every person around him. The others weren't helping. None of them seemed happy to be there anymore. Not even the usually ray of sunshine Carlos, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. But Kendall became a person she couldn't stand being around anymore. She knew he didn't really hate everyone. The fame just got to him and all the people who said yes all the time clashed with his personality. He liked aggrevating people. But when he started to get his way all the time, he got bored and had to get his rush somewhere. His friends were the ones who had to suffer.
James became Diva like, something Katie despised. He complained about everything and like he cared about himself too much before, that was nothing compared to then. The fame really went to his head and Katie didn't feel like being around him anymore. He acted like he was better than all of them. It was something she tried hard to get him to see, but he never did. Not until it was too late.
Logan really just seemed like he didn't want to be there anymore. He enjoyed it at first, but Katie could see how hard it was becoming for him to remain happy. She had always known it wasn't his dream. Heck, everyone knew that. But she thought he was at least happy with it, because he was good at it. But in the end, he just couldn't do it anymore. He couldn't put up with the partying and the performing and the photo shoots. It just started to bring him down
And then there was Carlos. He never seemed down, he just wore a smile all day long. At least, that's what everyone thought. But Katie saw the way his smile vanished the moment he closed the door of their apartment. The way he slumped down into the couch and let out a huge sigh. He was exhausted. It was hard for him to handle the Hollywood life. Having to be friendly to everyone usually wasn't that hard. But he easily read people and finding out how fake everyone was wasn't easy. He tried to remain positive, he really did. But she could see how hard it was becoming. He used to have his friends to pick him up. But since they all seemed to have their own problems, even Carlos smiled less. She tried to help him and give him the hugs he used to give her. It helped a little bit. But not even the greatest hug in the world could have cheered him up the moment he came home to find out his three best friends had abandoned him.
Katie remembered that day vividly. She met with Dak Zevon for lunch as she was still trying to convince him to sign with her. They had become good friends, but Dak was satisfied with his current manager, so he didn't see the need to switch. She wasn't aware of the trouble waiting for her back home. As she said her goodbyes and left for the Palm Woods, she started to feel it. Something wasn't right...
Flashback...
The further she stepped inside, the more she could feel it. Something happened. She could sense it even more when people started to whisper among themselves upon seeing her. Even Bitters kept staring at her like he wanted to say something. What was going on?
She hurried into the elevator and pressed the button for her floor. Her heart was pounding in her chest.
"Come on, come on..." She growled as she willed the elevator to move faster. When the doors finally opened, she practically ran out, nearly knocking over another resident in the process.
She ran for the apartment, noticing right away how the door was slightly ajar. She opened it and her mouth fell open. James stood in the middle of the living room, picking up small items as his suitcases stood by the couch, fully packed. She could hear yelling from one of the bedrooms, but for the moment kept her attention on the boy in front of her
Her mother walked after him, pleading with him not to go. They could work this out, they had fought before. But James just kept going, ignoring her pleads with a hard look.
When he had all his things, he picked up his suitcases and started for the door.
"James?" She was surprised at how small her voice sounded. She saw him freeze. He looked directly at her and she could see the apology in his eyes.
"Katie, I..." He started and she slowly walked closer.
"Are you going to live in a different apartment again until the fight is over?" She asked with hope in her voice and eyes. But when he cast his eyes away from her, she knew.
"Oh..." She softly said.
Just then she heard the bedroom door opening.
"Fine, just leave then. Like I care!" Kendall's voice yelled loudly through the now open door.
She looked behind James and saw Logan, suitcases in hand. He looked angry, but the moment he saw Katie, his eyes softened.
"You're both leaving?" She asked, her eyes darting between the two. She noticed how they exchanged a glance and then glared and looked away. Logan sighed and then headed for the door.
"Thanks for everything, Mrs. Knight. I'm sorry about this. I'll uh, I'll call you when I land." He told the woman, who already looked distraught. She nodded, not able to say anything else. She knew it wouldn't make a difference.
He walked towards the door, where Katie still stood, ready to stop them. Hurt and anger flashed through her eyes. She searched his, trying to find any hope in getting him to stay. But the moment she looked at him she knew this was it. This was the moment she didn't want to happen.
He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't. He knew this was bad. He just sighed again and sent an apology to her through his eyes, before heading out.
She watched him walk away in disbelief and then turned back towards James. He was shuffling his feet and already looked apologetic. She shook her head.
"Katie, I'm sorry...I..." He started, but she just kept shaking her head.
"No, you guys can't do this. You can't just leave. What about your lifelong friendship? You said you would never let this town change you. You can't go... This was your dream, you're just going to give up?" She asked him. He swallowed thickly and looked at his feet.
"I tried, Katie. But things changed, we changed. Maybe it's time for something different." He softly told her. She just looked at him in shock.
"But you've always wanted to be famous... And now you're finally here, you want to throw it away, just like that?" She asked him in confusion. He sighed and closed his eyes.
"I did want to become famous, just not like this... I'm sorry, Katie, but I have to go..." He softly told her and headed for the door.
"James, please don't leave..." She pleaded with him. he sighed again and let go of his suitcases for a moment, before giving her a hug.
"I promise I'll call you. Take care of yourself, Katie." He told her, before letting go. She watched him slowly walk towards the door. he looked back one more time and then with pain in his eyes walked out the door.
Katie looked at the empty doorway with wide eyes and then turned around towards the open bedroom. She tensed up her jaw and curled her hands into fists, before stalking over to the room, ignoring her mother's pleads to stop.
"What did you do?" She angrily asked as she stepped into the room. She was going to say more, when she notice her big brother angrily shoving clothes into an open suitcase. "Are you going after them?" She asked, her anger dying down a little.
"Nope. They can go to hell for all I care. I am going back to Minnesota." He told her, which got her anger to flare up again.
"You're kidding, right?" He didn't answer her and just kept throwing things in his bags. "You're just going to leave? Just like that?"
"Not just like that, Katie. They made it pretty clear they don't want to be here anymore, so why should I stay?" He asked her and she opened her mouth in shock.
"Because it's your job to keep them together. You've done it before. You've fought and they left and you went and fixed it. It's what you do." She reminded him. He sighed.
"Well, not this time, little sister. It's over. Big Time Rush is done and so is our friendship." He explained.
"And you just decided that? Without even trying to talk it out?" Kendall rolled his eyes and sighed loudly.
"Katie... It wasn't something we just decided. I saw this happening a long while ago. It's surprising we held on this long." He told her.
"No, I don't believe that. If you knew beforehand, why didn't you do something?Why didn't you talk to us about it?" She asked, still sounding shocked at how nonchalantly her brother seemed to handle the situation.
"It wouldn't have made a difference." He told her, before closing his suitcase and getting ready to leave. "We already decided, it's over. There's nothing anyone can do about it." He said as he started to drag his suitcase out into the living area.
"And all of you agreed on it? It took you what, five minutes?" She asked him, still sounding angry.
"Yes, we all agreed on it and no, it didn't take us five minutes. This was building up for months and... Why am I even explaining myself to you anyway? We already decided on it. I'm going back to Minnesota to play hockey, Logan is probably going to be a doctor," he said in an angry tone. "James will be a model or whatever and Carlos, I don't know. But who cares anyway, because he walked out first. So why don't you talk to him, he started all of this." Katie looked exasperated and followed him as he walked to the door.
"Why would Carlos walk out? Did you say something? Because I honestly don't believe he would be the one to..." Katie started, when Kendall stopped her.
"Katie!" he called out angrily. She looked at him with wide eyes. "It doesn't matter who started it, okay? I'm going home. Join me if you want, don't if you feel like staying, I don't care. I just know I don't want to say here." He said, stopping right before the door opening. "Mom, I'm sorry for not waiting for you guys, but I just can't stay here another minute. I'm going to go catch my plane. I'll let you know when I get there and I'll just see you there." He told his mother, who still couldn't believe everything that was going on. Katie watched as he took out his phone and typed up something, before looking at her once more and walking out.
Katie turned towards her mother.
"Why didn't you stop them?" She said, but not even waiting for an aswer before stalking towards Carlos and James' room. She opened her mouth to yell, when she realized the room was empty. She frowned when she saw all of Carlos' stuff was still there. She turned back with a frown and looked at her mother. "So, where's Carlos?" She asked. "Kendall said he walked out first, so where is he? His stuff isn't even packed." She said, sounding a little confused, but also still angry.
"I-I don't know... He hasn't been here, it was just them..." Her mother said absentmindedly. Katie rolled her eyes and headed for the door as well.
"I'm going to go look for him. Maybe he can do something to fix this." She said, sounding annoyed, before turning on her heal and walking out.
She looked everywhere, asked all the other residents, but no one had seen him. How was that possible? Just as she was about to head for Bitters, she suddenly saw him. She raised her eyebrows at the huge cheerful smile on his features. How could he be happy at a time like this?
She watched as he hurried through the lobby, never even noticing her, before quickly following. The elevator doors shurt just before she could get in, so she rushed for the stairs.
She ran fort heir apartment, ready to yell at Carlos, when she saw it. She stared at her mother questioningly and then bac at the broken form of her once so cheerful older brother as he sobbed in the middle of the floor. Her mother looked helpless as she tried to calm him down.
"But I don't understand why they would do this? They wouldn't leave without me..." He sobbed, breaking Katie's heart.
End of flashback...
When Carlos told her what really happened in the studio, Katie was even more furious. She couldn't believe her brother could have lied to her like that. Carlos never started it. He did. She wanted to yell at him, punch him for doing this to one of his best friends. But instead, she made sure to stick with Carlos and help him as he tried to deal with everything. She watched him deal with the press, the record company and then, the fans... He tried to keep a smile on his face, but she knew he was breaking down on the inside.
She helped him packed up his things as they finally decided to leave. But instead of coming with them to Minnesota, Carlos wanted to clear his head. So, he called his own brother and planned a backpacking trip through Europe. She was proud of hi mand even though she'd miss him, she knew he had to do this. Because he was the only one who didn't have any sort of future planned out for after BTR broke up. He just didn't think it would happen. He had hoped they would say together forever. But now he was ready to find himself and he promised to keep his little sister posted with postcards from every country and a phone call now and then.
Her mother and Katie left for their old home, against all of Katie's wishes. She cold feel the anger boiling up again the closer they got tot heir destination. Kendall was going to pay for this.
The moment they stepped in, she had felt so angry, she couldn't even speak when she saw him. So she just headed up the stairs and then listened as her mom yelled out all the frustrations she couldn't.
But it all fell on deaf ears. He never even heard anything his mother had yelled about. He just tuned her out and when she stopped he bluntly askd if she was done and left for hockey practice. Katie had never seen her mother so angry. She actually started to clean...
She knew her and her brother were a lot more distant now. It wasn't lke she wanted it that way. But everytime she saw him, she remembered Carlos heartwrenching sobs at The Palm Woods. So they both went their seperate ways. Katie started to build contacts for her own agency, while her mom looked for a new job and Kendall started to become a star hockey player.
One thing that did put a smile to her face were the postcards she received from Carlos. He kept his promise and sent her cards from every country he visited, accompanied with a full story of what he had done there. She loved reading them and looked forward to them every time. But then they came less frequent. She couldn't figure it out, until he once sent her a picture of him and a beautiful girl, hugging closely. She understood right away and just felt happy for him. They tried to stay in touch, but eventually it died down and all she had was the postcards.
She realized he had gotten over his heartache and decided it was time she did the same. She stepped towards her brother and hugged him, catching him off guard immediately. But then he wrapped his arms around her and they let go. They let go of all the hurt and anger.
Katie felt happy again and started to come to Kendall's games to support him. It was after one of those games when she was reunited with another older brother. Logan Henderson. She wasn't quiet sure what to say, but the awkwardness faded as soon as he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. She jus laughed in surprise and looked up in shock at all the happiness radiating off of him. They talked for about an hour, him conveniently avoiding the subject of her brother or their friends. He asked about everyone else though. He talked proudly about going to medical school and finally following his dreams.
She was glad he was doing well. But she couldn't ignore the hurt she felt at the thought of all the guys being happy without each other. It wasn't supposed to be like that. But they all seemed happier without the others, without the boyband keeping them from following their true passions.
The only person she hadn't seen yet was James. And it took a few years for that to happen. She did hear from him in the meantime, keeping track of how successfull he was. She was already living in LA again and had set up her agency. She was meeting a new client for lunch when he stepped in. He looked exactly the same as she remembered. Well, besides the blonde bimbo attached to his arms. She observed them with a frown. Even during her meeting she couldn't stop looking over and feel disgusted at the way she fake laughed at everything he said. James seemed happy, but he really hadn't changed one but. He was still far too trusting. She wanted to go over and tell him how stupid he was being, but then she remembered they hadn't seen each other in about five years. That wouldn't have gone over well.
But as they stood up,she couldn't help but gasp loudly when she saw the matching wedding rings on their hands and her huge stomach. How did she not notice that before? She just stared shamelessly and unknowingly as everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her in return. It took for the pregnant woman to stand directly in front of her to shake her out of it. She looked up and smiled sheepishly. But then her eyes met the brown ones of James, who looked at her and was trying hard to figure out how he knew her.
"It's me, James." She told him with a smirk and watched as he paled. His eyes widened and he nearly fell backwards in shock.
"Katie?" He stammered and she just nodded. He practically ran over and picked her right off of the floor, spinning her around happily. His wife wasn't as happy as she stared in shock and disgust at the display in front of her. Katie just giggled like she was ten again. "My god... Look at you! You're so... You're all grown up..." He said, seeming tot hink about the past. Katie smiled and shrugged.
"Well, had to happen sometime." She said and blushed as he started to compliment her on how amazing she looked. He immediately pulled up a chair to her table and they started to chat animatedly. Katie couldn't fake her happiness at how James was completely ignoring his furious wife and devoting all his attention to her instead.
She had wanted to tell her all about what a fool he was, being with that woman. She didn't love him. Anyone could see that from a mile away. But she got caught up in just talking to him again. They were both caught up so much that they didn't even notice how everyone left around them. They never even noticed when James' 'lovely' wife left. When the manager informed them it was closing time, they just laughed and headed outside. They exchanged numbers and promised to keep in touch.
That was the last she heard from him. Not that she was that surprised. She found out later that his wife had been the reason behind i tand she had been right all along. The moment their son was born, she ran off, leaving James to take care of the boy by himself. She didn't blame him for leaving Hollywood behind once again. And she wasn't surprised when she found out he had already changed his number when she finally got the courage to call him.
She misses all her brothers now. She still looks at the postcards Carlos once sent her once in a while and smiles. She knows he's happy. But she wishes he would just let her know anything.
She remembers her encounter with Logan and despite talking to him later and even going to his wedding, their contact also died down. It was only logical, since she wasn't in Minnesota often anymore. And her mother told her of what was going on between him and Camille.
Her mother also told her James was back in town. He set up a company there as well and seemed happy. She wants to just go over and talk to him. But after all this time and the way last time went, she just doesn't have the courage anymore.
And Kendall... After fighting so long, they had become close again. All up until he had that accident and now? She doesn't even recognize him anymore. She can't believe how he has turned away from everyone, from his own family. His own kids are practically ognored by hi mand Jo is in so much pain. But he can't see that. He's just so stubborn!
It hurt to leave again and it hurt even more to decide to not visit Minnesota for a while anymore. Her mother undrstood. Kendall didn't care. Which was what she expected anyway.
But she still misses it. And after spending about three years in Hollywood again, she decided she wants to see them all again. She feels happy and is confident. She can do this.
She arrived in the middle of the night and feels at peace, sleeping in her old bedroom again. Tomorrow she'll go out and face them. She is ready to see James and talk again. She wants to see Logan and try to help him see that what he is doing is hurting Camille. And then there's Kendall. Him she just wants to punch some sense into...
She sleeps with a smile on her face, feeling content. The house is quiet.
But then a loud sound slowly awakes her from her slumber. She sleepily opens her eyes and groggily looks around. She groans as she hears it again. A thud or a bouncing noise of some kind. She puts the pillow over her head, but the sound continues. She groans and pulls the sheets away before getting up. She stalks towards her mother's room, who seems tob e in the same agony.
"Mom... what is that?" She groans. Her mother just growls.
"I don't know..." She mumbles into the pillow on her face. "What time is it?"
Katie squints her eyes to see the time on the clock on her mom's nightstand.
"It's 5.30..." She whispers in disbelief. Her mom sits up at this.
"What?" She asks in disbelief and looks at the clock. The sound continues to pound into their heads.
"Seriously, what is that?" Katie asks as she pulls the curtain of her mom's bedroom window aside a little. She blinks furiously at the light flooding her eyes. "Well, at least the sun has set." She mumbles. She looks around to figure out what the sound is. She can't see anything, but then suddenly notices a basketball bouncing by on the driveway. "What in the world..." She quietly says to herself. "Uh mom, I think someone is playing basketball in your driveway..."
Her mother turns around and Katie already feels bad for the person outside. He or she will never survive this one. But well, he or she had it coming. Her mother grabs one of Kendall's old hockey sticks and with a bathrobe on, she angrily heads downstairs. Katie quickly follows and swftly heads for the downstairs window, peering through the blinds. She pulls back in shock. She sees her mother nearly opening the door fiercely and then grabs her arm to stop her.
"Katie, what are you doing?" Jennifer Knight asks, looking very annoyed. But then she sees the shocked look in her daughter's eyes. "What? What is it?"
"Outside... That's..." She stammers, not sure whether to laugh or cry in response. Her mother frowns in confusion and opens the door anyway.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing? It's five th..." Jennifer starts, but is then just as shocked. "Carlos?" She asks and watches the now grown up Latino nether have seen for years suddenly playing basketball in her driveway.
"You are seeing this, right?" Katie asks her and her mother nods slowly. Just then, the Latino turns tot hem and smiles widely.
"Hi Mama Knight!" He greets with a wave. "Is Kendall up yet? It's almost time for hockey practice." He announces.
Mother and daughter freeze and exchange a look of confusion as the man in front of them picks up the orange ball and starts to bounce it around again.
A/N Hm... Guess that wasn't such a diffcult clue to uncover then, right? ;)
Thanks so much for your support again on the last chapter I loved reading all the reviews. They really got me inspired to write a new chapter right away. Hope you don't mind ;)
Anyway, has anyone else seen Carlos' muscles? I mean, jesus, dude... I like living! Wow...
Sorry about that :P I'll try to update again soon Sorry for the very long chapter with just a lot of info again. I didn't mean for that to happen. But I had to lead up the ending of this chapter somehow and this kind of happened. Let me know what you think of it!
Lots of Love, Baxxie