Author's Note: Alright, so I want you guys to know that I have a French test, a Bio test, and a Neuro test between Monday and Tuesday, but the love in the reviews I have gotten have made me so excited that I cannot hold back on giving something else to you guys to tide you over for a little while longer. I'm hoping that between both of my stories, I get at least one chapter out a day, but we'll see how my schedule works with that goal.

So, my short thanks here for those of you that reviewed Love and Heartz (double thanks for being the first), carlosgarcia, Al Ad Luc Mor, Randomness-Is-My-Specialty, and tank602. You guys will ultimately be what will keep me going with these stories. So REVIEW!

Oh, and the beginning of this next part is going to be familiar as I watched the first episode to get some of the lines but obviously things turn out differently than what happened in the show

Almost Three Years Ago…

"Now, do you wanna be a pop star?"

No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Kendall knew that the moment those words sounded from the speaker on the TV that whatever had James' attention, which was currently deflecting Carlos' attack, would be forgotten and he would become entranced in the words.

"Well today's your chance if you're in…Minnesota. Are you ready?"

Fuck. Kendall looked over towards the pretty boy and noted how serious his face was and the happiness that seemed to light up his eyes at the potential of being discovered. The blonde had known for the longest time that being famous was James' dream, and he, along side of the others in their quartet, all believed that it would happen because not only did James look like he should be famous, but he had a voice. But now? No, not now. This couldn't happen.

But as the announcer on the television continued to spout out information about what was going on and Gustavo Rocque, Kendall could see the excited change in James' face as he declared that he could sing better than a dog. This was his dream. And he knew that if there was something like this pertaining to the Minnesota Wild that James would be doing everything he could to get Kendall there.

So, prompted to stand with his other friends Kendall ordered them to "call all moms now."

It was getting dangerously close to five and it was at least a ten minute drive there. Their phones weren't ringing. And they were only freshman so none of them even had a learner's permit so that they could throw a neighbor into the car and go.

"Kendall!"

The startled boy was shaken from his thoughts at the desperation in James' voice. He looked at his friend, his green eyes wide as if trying to tell him that he was coming up with nothing. But then it hit him.

"I know how we can get there. …But it's not legal."

Five minutes later, the four boys were climbing into the car that was in Kendall's garage. It had been left behind by his dad, who tried to claim that he left the Mustang as a gift for Kendall when he turned sixteen and he got his driver's license. But the blonde now knew better that his dad had been forced to choose between the Mustang or the Camaro because he wasn't coming back once he was gone. It had only taken Kendall a few seconds to find the keys to it and now he was sitting in the driver's seat looking at the gears.

"Kendall, do you even know how to drive a car," Carlos asked from the back seat.

"WHO CARES," James yelled back at him, "as long as he gets me to the audition that's all I need!"

"Guys would you calm down," Kendall said, trying to keep his voice despite the fact that he knew he was about to do something that if he got caught he could get arrested for, or worse, his mom would find out.

He started the car with ease, pressed the button that opened the garage and backed the car out, eliciting a cheer from both James and Carlos.

"I do not feel comfortable committing a crime at this young of an age," Logan said meekly from the back seat, but when he was ignored he grumbled, "I gotta get new friends."

They made it to the audition with five minutes to spare, somewhat to Kendall's dismay, but that didn't stop him from wishing his best friend good luck, after a small pep talk, of course. The other three slipped into the back of the auditorium to watch, knowing that James would of course be stellar. Kendall though, knew of Gustavo Rocque's asshole tendencies and was ready to rip him a new one if need be. But that action wasn't needed.

It all happened so fast, but the next thing Kendall knew he, and Logan and Carlos, were cheering and bounding up onto the stage to attack James, much to the surprise of the record producer and his assistant because they had just told him that he was it. He was what they were looking for. And while he celebrated with a happy James, the only words that echoed in Kendall's head were, "and your flight to L.A. leaves on Sunday."

Present…

James hissed as he touched the towel to his face that morning after he showered. The product of the dodge ball game was fresh on his face, a nice welt having bubbled up at some point between leaving school and dinner yesterday. James was tempted to cover it with makeup considering how unsightly it was to him, but the second he tried to touch any cover up to it, he winced. The evidence of Kendall's hatred for him was going to be plastered on his face all day.

Of course the other students noticed, especially since the story of gym class the day before had not gone untold by his fellow peers. However, James ignored them as he made his way to his first class of the day, the only one he shared with his former friends, and he thankfully got there early enough to snatch a seat near Logan.

The smart boy looked from the book that he had been reading and raised his eyebrows, "I see Kendall really did nail you pretty well yesterday."

James nodded with a small roll of his eyes. "Yep, I am definitely feeling the love from him."

Noticing how Logan bit his lip and looked down, James could tell that Logan assumed he was going to ask what was going on. But he didn't. The Kendall thing was something that he needed to deal with on his own, and maybe he would get a little more information from his friend about it, but he wasn't going to push. At least not about the Kendall thing, because when Carlos walked into the room, a large, almost evil grin spread over James' face. "Carlos, hey," he called out, waving the Latino boy over.

At first, James wanted to burst out laughing at the look that appeared on his face because it was like a deer in headlights, or like Carlos had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. James could see his eyes flicking from the place he had been in yesterday and to the two of them, not realizing that Logan had buried himself into his book once more, his face as red as a tomato.

Carlos took a step forward, towards James and Logan's direction, but the sudden friendly drape of an arm around his shoulder stopped him. "C'mon Carlos," Kendall said, his eyes not even looking at the shorter boy, but rather glued on James, "come sit with me and Dak." And just like that, Carlos retreated with the blonde who was clearly sending James a smug smirk.

James scoffed and was about to open his mouth but Logan stopped him. "Don't James," he said quietly, almost sounding a bit terrified, "don't push."

Why shouldn't he push? Kendall had blatantly hit him in the face yesterday and today he had pointedly made sure that Carlos didn't go anywhere near him, after not even speaking to him yesterday from what James could see. There was something seriously wrong going on.

But class had now started and so James just settled back in his seat and tried to pay attention to what was being discussed, but this situation with his friends was just far too much of a distraction.

"Okay class, as I told you yesterday, I would randomly be assigning partners today, and so once I call them out, go mingle and talk about which author you want to do. That will have to be decided for tomorrow's class."

Their teacher began to read through a list of names. "Carlos Garcia and Logan Mitchell."

James looked over at Logan who's head he found had immediately dropped, but the bright red flush was staining his ears told him that he was just hiding a face that matched. And when he looked over towards Carlos, he noticed the Latino nervously fidgeting in his seat, also refusing to look over at his partner.

"Jo Taylor and Dak Zevon," the teacher continued to rattle on, "and finally James Diamond and Kendall Knight."

The "WHAT" that resounded from both boys stunned the class and all heads turned towards either boy, both of them staring with wide eyes towards their teacher. Almost simultaneously, James and Kendall scrambled from their seat and rushed to the front of the classroom.

"You cannot be seriously pairing us up," Kendall said, managing to speak first, "I will partner with anyone just please not him."

"Me? What's so wrong with being partnered with me? If I recall I'm not the violent one!" For emphasis, James pointed towards his welted cheek as he glared at Kendall who returned the narrowed eyes.

He could see the blonde balling his fists at his side, and even out of the corner of his eye, he could see both Logan and Carlos making their way towards the front of the classroom, along with Kendall's friend Dak and the blonde girl that he had obviously been partnered with.

"I'm sorry," Miss C. said, "but unless another student is willing to switch then you two are stuck with each other."

At this, Kendall immediately turned and as Carlos was the first person within reach he grabbed onto the Latino's shoulders. "Please switch with me Carlos. We can work together or I can work with Logan. I don't care. Just don't make me work with him. I will kill him."

James started to scoff at the desperation in his voice but then he noticed the look in Carlos' eyes. He didn't want to switch partners. One flick of his gaze towards Logan told James that and he wondered about that for a second before someone else decided to step in.

"Jeez Kendall if working with him is going to be that much of an issue then I'll do it and you can partner with Dak."

It was Jo Taylor. James didn't remember seeing her yesterday, but then again, he hadn't really been paying much attention to anyone that wasn't Kendall, Logan, or Carlos. For a moment he wondered if this was one of his fan girls and she was seeing it as a chance to work with the international pop star. But that was also a thought that was quickly shot down.

"…Jo…" Kendall mustered, "you don't…"

"Apparently I do," she shot at him, silencing him.

"Then it's settled then," Miss C. said, cutting in before anything else could be said, "Jo and James will partner and you can work with Dak, Kendall."

James looked over at Kendall who seemed to be having a hard time even processing that decision. Why did he care? He got to work with the guy that seemed to be his new best friend and didn't have to deal with being partnered with James.

Meanwhile, Jo was moving over to James holding out her hand. "Hi," she said, giving him a bright smile, "I'm Jo Taylor, and I apologize for my boyfriend's behavior. Sometimes he forgets that he isn't a caveman."

James immediately took her hand, starting to introduce himself, but he stopped halfway through. Wait, boyfriend?

He looked up to see Kendall looking at him, the look on his face a mixture of hatred and smugness. Now he knew why the blonde looked so torn at the partner switch. Even though they were no longer going to work together, James was now paired with Kendall's girlfriend.

"Um….e-excuse me," James said suddenly, his brow furrowed as he dropped the girls hand and headed out of the classroom door, ignoring the teacher's call for him to take a hall pass.

James wasn't seen again until lunch. He had actually left school grounds, got into his car and drove around town for the two other class periods that he missed. And of course, being high school, and being a high school in a small town, people talked. By the time he returned, nearly everyone had heard about both of the boy's outbursts and of course of James' disappearance. So when he reappeared half way through the lunch period, nearly the entire cafeteria was hushed as he walked over and dropped into the seat across from Logan, who was also staring at him.

"Where the hell have you been James? Miss C. isn't happy. You just left, and obviously you left school. You know you're going to get in trouble for that."

Shaking his head, James dropped his chin into his hand. Like he cared about getting into trouble. The odds were, anyway, that he would be giving a warning for this first time since he could pull the whole
"I've been home schooled for the past three years," and the fact that he was James Diamond.

Logan continued to rattle off about the numerous rumors that seemed to spout up about his two class period absence but James just tuned him and out and looked towards the lunch table that was occupied by the jocks.

Today, Carlos was seated beside Dak, across from Kendall and Jo was seated beside her…boyfriend. Carlos' kept flicking his eyes over to their table – even after the usual chatter resumed – a worried expression on his face. But he remained seated at the table.

Suddenly, James stood which caused Logan to immediately pester him with what he was about to do because it hadn't gone unnoticed where he had been staring. But once more, the pretty boy ignored him as he walked over to the table and settled himself on the small available space beside Jo. The entire table stopped mid conversation to look at him.

"Hey," he said addressing the blonde girl, "I'm sorry about class earlier. It's been an overwhelming first couple of days back. I'm James Diamond."

This time, he held out his hand to her with a dazzling smile in which Jo gave him a weary look before complying and taking his hand for a second time that day. "It's nice to meet you," she replied, "and I could imagine it is. I mean when was the last time you were in a public school; kindergarten?"

That was something that a lot of people suspected about James when he became known, was that he hadn't had a normal life before his discovery, no matter how many times he tried to tell them differently. But still, he was a nice guy.

Giving Jo a small chuckle he dropped her hand, "no, actually, freshman year. I actually went here."

The surprise on Jo's face was noticeable, "oh, I just thought that was some silly rumor that the girls in this school liked to claim. 'Oh, the hunky teen heartthrob James Diamond used to go here.'" Her voice had raised an octave and she fluttered her eyelashes dramatically. "I didn't start here until sophomore year," Jo finished as an explanation as to why she thought that.

James was about to respond when he saw a lanky arm snake around her waist and draw the girl farther from him. A small smirk twitched at the corner of his lips, but he remained silent about the possessive action. "Well," he said, still addressing Jo, "they were not just silly rumors, although I have no doubt that that is exactly how they told you that fact. But anyway, I came over here to talk to you about our project for Senior Sem. Since I was so wonderful this morning in walking out, we didn't get to actually talk about what we were going to do for the project. And I know we don't have much time now, but since I don't know whether I'll see you before the day is over again, I was wondering if I could get your phone number so we could –"

"Jo, babe, could you go get me a bottle of water," Kendall said suddenly, interrupting James.

Both of them looked over at him with Jo being the first one to speak. "First off, you have legs, use them. I'm having a conversation. Second off, babe? You know I hate pet names Kendall."

James couldn't suppress the look of glee on his face as Kendall looked down sheepishly. It was nice to see someone put him in his place. Plus, it was awfully rude of him to interrupt their conversation. Even if the entire reason for James coming over to the table was to get some sort of reaction out of Kendall. And just to goad him further, James decided to chime in on the conversation.

"Yeah Kendall get your own water," he said, trying to keep his voice light as if he were teasing him rather than provoking him.

The look that he was given by the blonde probably would have killed him if it could. Jo, however, had sensed that James was not doing it out of good humor and sighed. "Actually Kendall, I will go get you that water, and James I'll give you my number when I get back."

In an instant she was gone and Kendall and James were left staring at each other, or glaring in Kendall's case. And that was when James finally decided he couldn't take it anymore. "What is your problem Kendall?"

Kendall's mouth formed a hard line and once more that day his fists tightened into balls but rather than say anything, he promptly stood from the lunch table and headed in the direction that Jo had gone. But James wasn't going to take him ignoring him anymore. So he stood and followed him.

"Kendall, I was talking to you," he shot towards his back, grabbing onto his shoulder to force him to face him.

And face him Kendall did, but the fists that he had been forming earlier were finally put into use and he clocked James right in the welt he had left the day before. For a moment, James keeled over from the blow, feeling the tears stinging at the corners of his eyes from the pain, but rather than just leave it like he did the day before, he straightened and lunged at Kendall taking the blonde down to the cafeteria floor.

Instantly, as is usually the case with fights in high school, people shot up from their seats and crowded around them, jostling them to continue. Both of them took their swings, each of them dominating at one point or another until a pair of arms were wrapping around his waist and pulling him back. James could see that the same was happening to Kendall.

Dak was the one pulling the blonde back and away from him, and he figured out that it was Carlos who had also helped to break up the fight. Both of the boys though were struggling to once more claw at each other's throats. But as all good high school fights must end, a teacher managed to break through the crowd.

He looked from one panting boy to the other, realizing which ones were bruised, or in Kendall's case, bloodied – James had gotten a good shot in to his lip which was now busted – and shook his head. "Zevon, Garcia," he said, his voice hard, "get these two knuckleheads down to the nurse's office. And the two of you," he continued, motioning at Kendall and James, "have detention after school."

Author's Ending Notes: So, I apologize for the clichéd idea of forcing Kendall and James to be partners, but I needed something that would cause an initial reason for them to actually interact and speak that would force them to be around each other. If you saw that coming, well, I'm sorry. I promise I have a few more surprises in store for you later. But I also think that switching things up a little with that so they didn't actually end up being each other's partners was not something that people expected.

I've also decided that the way this story is going to work is that it is mostly going to be from James' POV, but there will always be a chunk at the beginning from the past that will be Kendall's POV.

And I don't understand how I managed not to bash Jo. Generally, I hate her, but I didn't want her to be the bad guy in this story, at least not yet. Kendall is doing that enough.

Now, click that review button. It's right down there.