Authors Note: So this started out as a really crappy chapter, but then I went back and touched it up and now I'm really proud of how it turned out. It's pretty lengthy compared to a lot of things I've written before, but the more the merrier! I really hope you guys like this chapter, I know I did.
I don't really have that much to say except that I want to give a shout out to Anonymous Skrtle and freakycutiecarlos for leaving a review for the prologue, I really appreciated those! Reviews make me want to write more and more, so keep them coming and I might just update quicker and quicker! I'm really excited to get this story moving, and I hope you are too! This is going to be great!
I'm going to stop talking now and let you get on to the chapter, toodles!
Standing in the Dark - Chapter One
Carlos Garcia was jerked from his dreaming state as the loud slam of a door echoed throughout the apartment, causing a few picture frames to rattle and drop from their hooks and onto the floor. Carlos' eyes flew open as he felt his bed shake from the force of the slam, scared for a moment that an earthquake had struck the Palm Woods before remembering that Kendall always slammed the apartment door. Always. It was an old habit from Minnesota, where everyone slammed the doors shut to ensure that they were safely locked and the frigid cold didn't creep through any crack in the hinges. The boys might have been living in California for the past three years, where it never got nearly as cold as it did in Minnesota, but some old habits would never be broken. Rolling over in his bed, Carlos narrowed his eyes as he strained to read the bright green numbers that illuminated off the clock beside his bed. The time read that it was nine thirty in the morning, and the small boy gasped as he sat up in bed like a bolt, thinking he was late. It wasn't until the initial shock had passed did he remember that the band was on hiatus and wouldn't be going to the studio any time soon. Normally, the boys had to be at Roque Records at eight A.M. sharp every day - and he still wasn't used to being able to sleep in.
Yawning, Carlos turned back around and let his head fall onto his white, fluffy pillow. Staring at the white ceiling, he sighed and decided that he might as well get out of bed. He never was one to fancy sleeping in very long, always being the first to wake up and get ready for the long day ahead before they went on hiatus. He even got up before Logan - and that was saying something. Pulling the teal comforter off of his body, Carlos slipped lazily out of his warm bed and let his feet land on the soft carpet beside his bed. Stretching slightly before standing up, Carlos looked over to his roomate, James' side of the room. The boy had obviously woken up some time before the Latino. His bed was perfectly made and the faint stench of Cuda Man Spray drifted from the bathroom, where the door had been left open ajar. Carlos rolled his eyes and staggered over to the closet he shared with the brunette, still obviously tired and waiting for his child like energy to kick it. Reaching into the closet, Carlos picked a plain white t-shirt, a black cardigan, and his favorite pair of dark blue jeans to wear that day. Pulling the clothes on, the Latino slipped his socked feet into a pair of black vans and walked into the bathroom, feeling slightly more awake but still groggy.
He splashed his face with water, successfully waking himself up to the full extend, and smiled at himself in the mirror. Running a comb through his black hair, Carlos didn't bother to style it any special way as he flicked off the bathroom light and bounced down the hallway to the kitchen. He expected to see Kendall, James, and Logan eating breakfast and watching television, but as he entered the room, he realized that nobody was there. The television was off and the remote lay discarded on the couch, a sign that someone had, in fact, watched something that morning but was gone now. As Carlos walked into the kitchen, he noticed three empty cereal bowls in the sink and rolled his eyes.
They must have left already. Carlos concluded, remembering the slam of the door that had woken him up. Grabbing a clean bowl from the cabinet and a spoon from the drawer, Carlos poured his favorite cereal and didn't bother to add milk before he sat down at the bar counter and began to eat his delicious breakfast. Even though he was nineteen years old, he still enjoyed cereal as his daily breakfast food above all other - though he didn't mind leftover pizza for breakfast either.
You might be wondering - where was Carlos' helmet? Doesn't he use his beloved helmet as a cereal bowl rather than an appropriate bowl? Well, you see, when Carlos turned eighteen a little over a year ago, he had taken it upon himself to grow up. He had decided that if he was old enough to vote, he was old enough to stop acting like a child. And when he made that decision, he didn't just mean his helmet. He meant a lot of things, and his helmet was just one of them.
For instance, Carlos had stopped preforming ridiculous stunts that often lead to him and others getting hurt more often then not. His life was a lot easier since he stopping doing stunts, not having to spend a lot of time doctoring himself up and spending more time doing more productive things. It made his friends and the people around him happier to, not having to constantly worry about being injured by a crazy stunt or other. Carlos had also somehow managed to drop his suffocating obsession with corn dogs. He no longer stuck twenty of them in the oven and devoured half the plate before they were even completely cooked. Sure, he still liked to eat the food, but it seemed that his taste buds had changed.
But when Carlos had stopped wearing his helmet, he had also decided to take it upon himself to start caring about his hair. Sure, he would never care as much as James, but he still cared more than he did when he was sixteen. Over the years, he had grown his hair out - not nearly as long as Kendall or James' hair, more like Logan's - and it was styled in a way that really flattered him. The hair on the very top of his head was spiked up and tilted forward and the hair on the sides was left without gel and felt rather fluffy compared to the hair above. His friends, Gustavo, and the public seemed to like his new hair, so he kept it that way and without the helmet to mess it up all the time, he had managed to break quite a few hearts. It wasn't just his sudden attractive looks that broke hearts either, it was the fact that Carlos had also decided to finally come clean about his sexuality. When Carlos admitted that he was gay to his friends and family, they had been pretty accepting. In fact, it was almost as if they had expected it, but Carlos was happy nonetheless. He didn't have to worry about it anymore, and hardly anybody gave him grief about it - but there was still a girl every once in a while that would try and get him to straighten out for her but it never worked.
There was also something else Carlos had achieved from his sudden maturity - a love for photography. When Logan let the younger boy borrow his camera one day while they were walking around Los Angeles, Carlos had been unable to stop taking pictures of everything in sight. He would take pictures of shops, cafes, people, animals, nature, everything that crossed his path. Some days, Carlos would just borrow poor Logan's camera and spend the day walking on the beach, taking pictures of the ocean and the people around it or in a tree at the Palm Woods park, snapping photos of people practicing their lines, playing kickball, and even a few couples who shared their pink smoothies on the wooden benches below. Carlos took so many pictures that half the time, Logan hardly had enough room to use his camera for it's intended purpose. Finally, the raven haired boy decided to go out and buy Carlos his very own camera for his birthday. Of course, the younger boy adored the camera and hardly ever went somewhere without it. And damn, Carlos took some pretty good pictures. He had even considered taking a part time job and earning extra money by working for a photography company, but he had never found the time around his constantly busy schedule. Even now that they were on hiatus, Carlos decided that he didn't want to take pictures because he had to, but because he wanted to.
Once the Latino finished his breakfast and placed the bowl beside the others in the sink, he picked the beloved camera off the counter and slipped the strap over his neck and left the apartment - making sure not to knock it off it's hinges like Kendall almost did earlier that morning.
At Palm Woods Park...
Carlos grunted as he hoisted himself up into the highest tree in the Palm Woods Park, the branch creaking under his weight as he did so. Careful not to slip, the small body leaned against the sturdy trunk and flipped the switch on his camera, turning it on and watching the screen light up with the familiar Canon logo. A familiar chime rang in his ears as the perfect high quality screen loaded up and began to search for something to take a picture of. From his perch, he could see the famous Hollywood sign in the distance, the sun lighting up the white letters perfectly. Lifting his camera, Carlos zoomed in on the sign and waited for the screen to focus before he snapped a picture. Admiring the picture for a minute, Carlos lifted the camera again and looked around the park, searching for something that might catch his eye.
A group of kids were playing kickball among the trees, but Carlos didn't feel very interested in their game. The kids weren't very good at the game, not since Katie left to go back to Minnesota with Ms. Knight, so Carlos kept searching. His eyes finally landed on a boy and a girl sitting at one of the benches close to his tree. The girl had long, curly auburn hair and a yellow sundress complimented her tan skin. She was laughing and holding hands with the boy who smiled at her, his blue eyes shining and long black hair getting messed up by a sudden gust of wind. Carlos smiled as he focused the camera and took a picture, knowing he would have to show the couple the picture later. He knew the two of them personally, both being stars on the new teen drama that everyone in town was buzzing about. Carlos couldn't remember the name of it, since it only began airing a few weeks ago, but since he befriended the two, he decided that he would have to start watching it.
After that, Carlos let his camera fall into his lap as he looked up through the tree branches at the sky. He liked being so high up in the trees, were nothing could bother him and the sky was so open. He didn't feel so pressured up here, like he normally did among the people of Hollywood. But this was a life he had chosen for himself. It wasn't as if he didn't like his job - he loved it - but it was good to take a break.
It was good for the guys too. They hadn't spent much time together since Gustavo announced their hiatus a week ago, and come to think of it, Carlos hadn't really talked to them at all. Every time he asked if they wanted to hang out or do something together, they would have already made plans or remember they had to do something. Carlos didn't mind it though, it was good that they were getting a break from each other after spending so much time together. Even though he was feeling refreshed after having so much time on his own lately, he couldn't help but miss them. He couldn't even remember holding a conversation with any of them over the past week - not even James, his roommate - but it wasn't worth fretting over. The guys just needed their space, and Carlos was more than willing to give it to them.
James sighed with frustration as he took a sip from his pink smoothie before setting it down roughly on the round table. Logan exchanged a nervous glance with Kendall, who just rolled his eyes and took a sip from his own smoothie. The three boys were sitting outside on the patio at the new cafe that had opened just a block from the Palm Woods. James crossed his arms on the table and hunched over, glaring at the people around them who were laughing and smiling. They weren't having to worry about hurting one of their best friends, and James envied them.
"I don't know how were going to do this." James grumbled finally, taking another angry sip and slamming it down on the table dramatically. Logan jumped back a little as a bit of smoothie flew towards him from the straw, but didn't make a comment about it. He knew better than to make James more angry than he already was, so he remained silent as he pinched the bridge of his nose, nodding in agreement with his best friend's words.
"We've been avoiding him all week, he is bound to realize something is up sooner or later. He might be oblivious a majority of the time, but even Carlos would notice that something is wrong." Kendall murmured around the straw of his smoothie, taking a sip and sighing dramatically.
The guys had been contemplating a way to break the news to Carlos ever since Arthur had given the orders exactly one week ago. They didn't want to hurt him, but it was in a contract that all four of them had signed. Carlos had no choice but to quit the band. Honestly, the fact that Carlos had to quit the band wasn't as bad as having to actually tell him. They all knew that Carlos was bringing them down, but they had been too blinded by their friendship to accept it, or even notice for that matter.
"You know, Griffin is making a good decision by making us do this." Logan whispered, hoping he wouldn't anger his friends but speaking the truth out of habit. Kendall sighed and placed his smoothie down on the table, closing his eyes for a moment before speaking.
"I know." He admitted, finding it a lost easier to say then he thought it would have been, "We all know that having Carlos in the band isn't the best for us. He brings us down. He always has trouble with the new songs, dances, and gets stage fright more often than a middle schooler on opening night in an amateur production of Annie."
"It took him nearly two years to realize that helmet was bad for his image," James added, saying 'helmet' the way most people would say 'vomit', " I can't believe Gustavo didn't do away with it sooner."
"And he never takes our advice when we tell him that he should be hanging around other stars for good publicity, but he doesn't want to." Logan frowned, joining in on the conversation, "I mean, I know he's openly gay, and I respect that, but he didn't have to be so god damn stubborn when Griffin told him to pretend to date Debby Ryan to boost the band's popularity."
"I know right? Debby was ready to jump at that opportunity, since that rumor was spread about her eating disorder, but Carlos just wouldn't go for it." Kendall grumbled, really getting into the conversation. Normally, neither of the three would ever speak badly about one of their best friends, but it felt good to finally get it out. After dealing with Carlos over the years, they needed to speak their frustrations.
"I think he deserves to be kicked out of the band. He obviously doesn't care about it," James spat, realizing his dream was being dragged down by his short friend, "He never wanted this anyway."
"So what do we do?" Logan asked cautiously.
A grin made it's way slowly onto James' slips as a plan began to form in his mind. He never thought he would be planning a way to ruin his best friend's life, but he wasn't the guy he ever thought he would be either. Living in Hollywood, if only it had been for three long years, had changed him. In this town, people did not try to preserve life long friendships oh no, they didn't have time for that and only had the time to care for themselves and their own work. In this town, everyone fought for the same thing - the top. To be the star of all the new movies, to be featured in every new song, to appear as a guest star on popular television shows and be interviewed by the late night hosts. To be as famous as one could possibly be - that was what everyone in this town was fighting for. James wanted that. It had been his dream to be famous for as long as he could remember, and he wasn't about to let Carlos bring him down as he was so close to the top.
Yes, Hollywood had changed all of them into the people they never thought they would be. In the beginning, they were down to earth guys with a tight friendship that they promised to never let go of, but Hollywood had made that nearly impossible. They had to do this, for the sake of the band - and for themselves.
Carlos was in for a bumpy ride.
Authors Note: So, what did you think? I'm kind of proud of the length of this chapter, as I said before, so there has got to be something that you guys want to say! Please leave me a review if you liked this chapter, or hated it, whichever. There wasn't much that went down here, but I do have a lot in store for this story and I know you guys are going to love it. There are twists in here that you definitely will not be expecting, and you will not be disappointed.
Also, I will try to update tomorrow with chapter two, but I probably won't be able to. I have a lot of stuff to do tomorrow and Saturday, but I will get it up by Sunday at the most, so you guys won't have to wait that long. Can you wait? I can't!
Carlos: Dude, I want a camera now.
James: Then go to the store and buy one.
Carlos: UGH. GAH. BLARG. GROAN. UGHHH.
James: Are you all right? Those noises aren't normal. You might want to get that checked out.