As you guys read, if you see a * at the beginning of a sentence, that means it's Star's thoughts(: and every sentence with a * at the end, means it's the end of her thoughts. I'll try it out first, then leave me reviews on what you think. Enjoy!

**BTR-TeamCarlos

Chapter 7 –

Practice went by smoothly today. Gustavo was in a good mood, we went over our song with Star, and Kelly was thinking of ideas for booths to set up at the festival. I had a blast singing with Star, she was so full of energy. She made practice so much more fun.

"Oh, I can't wait to see what booths we get!" I said while high fiving the guys.

"Actually…" Kelly started, "We decided to let you guys have fun and enjoy the festival."

"Yes!" we all cheered.

"BUT, I might have to leave after your guys' performance, Griffin says he's going to talk some business with me. So, I don't want you dogs to be pulling some hooliganistic tactics while I'm gone." Gustavo announced. He always had his conditions.

Star stood up and joined the conversation. "Want me to come with you?"

"No, no, just have fun. I told your mom I wouldn't work you too hard." Gustavo had a look on his face as if he was imagining what Star's mom would have done to him if he overworked Star.

After snapping out of his illusion, he let us go early so we could help set up the festival. Star stayed and helped Gustavo with the harmonies.

"Can you believe this? We're actually going to perform in front of the hottest people in Hollywood!" James said while leaning on me.

Everyone was getting ready. The stage was almost up. They just needed Logan to hook up the lights. Jo took Kendall with her for help on decorating. James and I lifted stuff around and snuck a few snacks from the food court.

It was a sunny day with a few clouds in the sky. The wind was picking up a nice breeze; The perfect day for a festival. Set up was done by 5:30, so we had 30 minutes to get ready. The festival itself was going to take up the pool area and most of Palm Woods Park so we were excited how fun it was going to be.

"What do you guys think we should wear?" Kendall asked.

"We try should match, that always looks cool." Logan suggested.

"Okay, but what about Star? Isn't she singing with us? Shouldn't she know that we're planning to match?" I was seriously crushing on her. I never worried about a girl this much before.

James patted me on the back and told me that since she was a girl, it'd be okay for her to stand out. I guess he was right. We decided to wear a white shirt, black pants and a black leather jacket with a little red. I'm not gonna lie, we looked good. We still had a little time to spare, so we hung out in the lobby. Bitters was out for the day and some lady who didn't seem to care about anything was filling in for him.

One by one, celebrities started coming through the lobby and out to the festival. I saw Gustavo turn the corner and behind him were Kelly and Star. James was right, Star would stand out, but she matched us. She was wearing a red shirt, white pants, and her shoes matched her outfit. Her hair was up in a ponytail so I got to see her pretty face.

"DOGS! Stage, now!" Gustavo ordered as he walked out the doors and towards the stage. Star didn't look at me; she just kept walking. I tried to not worry about it, we were in a rush anyway.

We took our places on stage and waited for Gustavo to tell us more. By this time, the sky was orange and peaceful. The sun was going down and it gave everything a nice autumn touch.

"Alright, there's a lot of people her now. So make this good!" Dogs, I have to leave after this, but you'll have to do another song about an hour after this. I'll leave it up to you guys to pick the song. Make sure it's awesome!"

Gustavo signaled the crew to start the music and we were on. It seemed like people were coming in waves. Everyone was cheering and clapping. I loved the rush. Star's part was after mine. Hearing her sing just took my breath away. She was an amazing performer. The crowd loved her too. All those famous faces seemed like nothing when compared to Star. She was beautiful, she could dance, and sing. She was a triple-threat. She was everything.

After the song, Gustavo congratulated us and left. I grabbed a hold of Star's arm on her way off stage. She still hasn't looked or talked to me and I was determined to break the ice.

"Hey, you were great out there!" I complimented her, hoping she'd talk to me.

She looked at me with a blank expression, "Okay. Cool. Thanks, you were great too." She turned around and tried to continue walking but I got in front of her and made her stop.

"Did I do something?" I asked.

She crossed her arms and tried to avoid eye contact with me. She looked really mad. I got closer and asked her again, "Star, did I do something?"

She looked at me but she didn't look as mad as she did a few moments ago. "You didn't even say bye, or give me a hug, or did anything to let me know you were leaving earlier. I mean, yeah, I know I was there when you guys left but… how rude can you get?"

I almost fell to the floor laughing. Was that it? Wow, she was sensitive! "Haha! I'm sorry Star!" I said laughing.

"Hey, it's not funny. You were rude." She continued to cross her arms.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, Star. I won't do that again," I started to pout and pretend to beg for her mercy by getting on my knees and talking like a baby, "Pweez Star, will you eber forgive me?"

I knew it worked because she was trying not to laugh. She failed; her laugh was cute and it made me laugh too. "Okay, I forgive you. Now get up, you know I can't stay mad at you."

I stood up and gave her hug. "Well, I think we just got over our first official fight as best friends."

She smiled, "Haha, I guess. If you wanna call it that, then sure."

"Star!" Jo called out from behind one of the speakers.

My extremely good mood went down to a minimum. I was hoping to hang out with Star during the next hour before we had to sing again. She wasn't going to perform with us, so I was afraid I was going to miss her too much. She told me she'd see me later and ran off towards Jo. I let go of a breath that I seemed to be holding as I watched her walk away from me. I just wanted to hold her and never let her go.

The guys and I walked around for a bit, we mostly ate. I had my usual corn dogs and we all grabbed some slushy's for The 2nd Annual Big Time Rush Brain Freeze off. It was the same result as last time, we were all on the floor within seconds trying to make the undeniable chill go away.

"Man, that was fun," I said. "We need a third round another time."

James laughed and flipped his hair, "Oh we will my friend, we will."

"So, what song do you guys wanna do next?" Kendall said while grabbing a chair and sitting down. We followed his lead.

I looked around at their puzzled faces. I was fine with whatever song they chose. All I could think about were Star, Corn Dogs, and Brain Freezes. We eventually came over with an agreement on Big Night. We figured it'd set the mood for a fun festival.

It was darker now, and pretty soon the whole scene would be filled with lights from the stage and the booths. I loved how the stage was right in front of the pool, it's not every day you get a pool audience.

The guys ran off to dunk Buddha Bob, in the bucket of shame. It was one of those game where you throwing something at a target to dunk the guy sitting on the platform. I continued to walk around, telling them that I wanted another corn dog, when really, I was interested in finding Star.

I searched for about 10 minutes, but I soon gave up, telling myself it was hopeless and that she was probably over at the Palm Woods Park, riding one of the rides. I stopped and leaned on one side of the booths and looked around for a bit, waiting for our next performance.

Suddenly, I felt a kiss on my cheek. I freaked out to find that it was Star who kissed me. I felt an amazing rush go through my chest.

"Woah, what was… why'd you… uh?" I stuttered. I couldn't find the right words to say. I was so dumbfounded.

"Well, you cut in front of the whole line, which is now leaving, and I figured if you wanted a kiss that bad where you didn't even pay and make this booth not raise money… well, why not?"

"Kiss? Who said I wanted a kiss?"

She laughed and pointed at the sign next to her. It read:

Kissing Booth
$0.50

I freaked out again. A kissing booth? Why was she in a kissing booth? I looked at her full of shock, I still couldn't figure out the right words to say.

"Uh, are you okay?" She started waving her hand at my face. I guess, I wasn't blinking.

"Uh… um… are thought you were with Jo," I spat out, "Why are you here?"

"I was, but she felt bad about being in a kissing booth because you know how she's with Kendall and all. So, I told her I'd do it since I'm not really with anyone at the moment. Plus, it's not like I'll be kissing anyone on the lips anyway, it's just on the cheek… why do you ask?"

Crap, why does she keep getting me off guard? I tried to think of an explanation quickly, "I… uh… oh, no reason… haha… no reason…"

I was interrupted by another voice, "Hey, why does he get a free kiss?" It was Dak. I looked back at Star and she was no longer and in a good mood. Her eyes were fixed and she got pale. I immediately didn't like where this was going.

"Dak, you're here." She said.

Dak got closer to her, completely singling me out. Star glanced over at me and I gave her a little smile, letting her know it was okay. It really wasn't okay, but what could I do? I stepped back a little and just listened to what I could here.

"So, what's up?" Star said. She was really nervous; she couldn't stop playing with her hands.

"Nothing, just came because I thought it would be fun. I didn't know you lived here now. You liking it here?"

She looked over at me, then back at Dak before he could notice. "Yeah, I like it here. The people are really great."

I saw Dak look at me from the corner of his eye. "Really? People like who?" He moved a little closer. Feeling uncomfortable, she took a step back.

"Hey, Dak, I gotta get back to the booth. So…"

"So, find anyone of your interest? Do you happen to be crushing on anyone?"

"No, I…"

That's all I wanted to hear, I felt a painful pang in my chest. I heard too much of something that I wasn't even supposed to be listening too. I waited for them to bring the conversation on longer, but I wasn't listening. I just didn't want it to look obvious that I was bothered by what she said. Star glanced over at me again, and I waved her good bye. She'd be okay… she was with Dak.

"Carlos!" Camille called out from the stage, "Hurry! You guys are up!"

I rushed over to the stairs and onto the stage. The guys were already getting ready. James asked me where I was but I told him not to worry about it. Logan through me the mic and Kendall signaled the music. The stage lit up with bright lights and the crowd came in waves again. The lights were sporadic; it made us feel like we were on top of the world. People even sang with us.

Near the end of the song, I was able to actually look at the crowd. I saw Star near the pool singing along with us. At least she was happy. I gave the concert my all, and I was glad that she was watching. She saw me looking at her and I smiled. Her smile seemed to stick out from all the others. I looked around some more and saw that Dak was heading for her.

I tried not to think about them until we finished the song. As we stood there for the encore, I saw him and Star arguing. She was standing there calmly while he looked like he was talking smack. He was waving his arms around and it looked like he was raising his voice. I waited eagerly for the crowd to stop cheering, I wanted to go over and help her so badly. Then it went too far.

She snapped back at him and he pushed her into the pool. I dropped my mic and ran off stage. Dak was gone by the time I got to her and someone had already helped her out from the pool. She was soaked and the wind was making her even colder. I took off my jacket and handed it to her. A couple of geeks started laughing and she ran away in tears.

The guys caught up to me; confused at what was happening. I was so angry, and upset, and worried… I had no idea what exactly what I was feeling. But all these emotions were piling up inside me and I just wanted to let it all out on Dak.

"Hey man, we'll find Dak. Go find Star." James announced, and they were off.

I ran towards the direction Star went. She couldn't have gotten far. I knew all I had to look for was a girl in my leather jacket who happened to be really wet. It was harder than I thought. There were just so many people. I called her out her name multiple times but every time I did, someone would look at me and give me that 'Why are you yelling?' face.

I finally found her behind the petting fence. She was sitting on a hay bale, sobbing. I felt so bad that I almost thought about crying with her.

"Star," I asked as I got closer. "Are you alright?" I kneeled down in front of her so we were face to face. Her face was red from all the crying and her hair was still dripping wet.

She turned away, not wanting to make eye contact.

"Star, please talk to me. What happened?"

She finally looked at me but we just stared at each other. My heart felt that wanting again and I wanted to stop it so I asked her again what happened.

"Dak and I got in a fight. It got to be too much, and that's when he pushed me."

"Still, that doesn't mean he can hurt you like that. Are you hurt anywhere? Are you cold? I can get you a towel." I was freaking out. As soon as I was about to get up she grabbed my arm and I got back down. Her smile took my breath away.

"Carlos, I'm fine. It's just my luck I guess. I should just take a break from guys. Love's been hard for me. It seems like I'll never find a guy who'll love me back."

I sat next to her to avoid the tension that was going to come with what I was going to tell her next. I had to tell her, it was now or never. I couldn't let her think that no one loves her. I love her.

"Star, that's not exactly true." I said.

She looked at me confused. This time, I was the one avoiding eye contact. "What are you talking about?"

"Star… I… I love you." There, I said it. Hopefully she wouldn't run away from me.

She didn't say anything at first. I felt like a turd, I wanted to take it all back. I stared at the ground and waited for her silence to be broken.

She laughed, "I love you too, Carlos."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This was awesome! I turned to her smiling, but before I could hug her, she said something else. "Of course I love you, Carlos, you're my best friend."

That's when my whole world came crashing down. I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces as I sank into a bottomless pit of despair. I felt that sharp painful pang that people usually get when rejected. Only, this was a million times worse. I smiled at her to mask my pain. She smiled back, held onto my arm and laid her head on my shoulder. I held back tears as they burned my eyes.

*I knew exactly what he meant. In fact, I was extremely happy when he told me he loved me. That's what I was waiting to hear all last night. I just… I just couldn't get the courage to tell him I felt the same way. I didn't want him thinking that he was just a rebound… because he wasn't. I really did care about him. I know I hurt him… and I felt horrible for that.*

SO LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK! LEAVE SOME REVIEWS! (Preferably long ones) (: Please, tell your friends about my story, I need more reviews haha!

**BTR-TeamCarlos