After a few days, the results were in and the show was met with mixed reviews and low numbers. Katie was crushed; she knew not to expect too much but she couldn't help it. Jess was thrilled at the show but even when Katie saw it herself, she saw that it was lacking something, it just wasn't interesting to most people and it showed in the room with Jess and the other girls. They congratulated her but it was half hearted at best, just trying to make her feel good. Katie went to discuss the situation with the director and he agreed; they were already signed for a season that would begin production right away but something needed to be added to spice it up a bit.
"It's a stretch but why not get a little more adult with this show? Hear me out first, I know this is a kids TV show but the title is The Other Side of High School, so let's focus on high school problems. Sex, drugs, alcohol are popular subjects but taboo for this station, so for now, let's leave them out. Instead, how about regular high school drama such as grades, appearances, friends, enemies and all that but also, the negative side? Bullying is a popular thing that we should be addressing, poverty, abuse and neglect; all these could be touched on. Not everything in life is rainbows and sunshine and the show should reflect that to make sure that no one is left out." Katie offered
"Hmm…I like it! The season is written out for now, but we'll keep those ideas for next season, if we get one. We'll see after the first few episodes air if we should try something new. For now we'll wait it out and give the pilot a few other chances to air and see what happens." Harold said.
On Monday, the show began to shoot. They'd be shooting the entire season before it officially began airing the start of the year. They worked until just before Christmas when they were all free to go do as they pleased and be with family until it was time to shoot the next season; if they got one that is. Katie flew home eagerly and was greeted by her parents who couldn't have been more proud. They didn't really fully understand the show and it wasn't well written but Katie assured them that it was being worked on. "
"I'm co-writer now. I gave them a bunch of ideas to work on and I'll have to review them shortly before we return to filming. It means I'll be gone a little longer than I originally thought but I'd still be back in time to do a semester of school or such. Just like I promised!" she said happily.
Christmas came and went and Katie began a new semester of school in mid January. She was welcomed back by her department head, who didn't have any children of her own yet, therefore didn't know of Katie's new 'fame'. She did however notice a few stares occasionally from a handful of people around campus. News hadn't gotten out yet as far as she knew so she figured it was just because of the previous rumors and hate she had before with new ones starting such as her absence being contributed to a mental breakdown or something. Either that or maybe a few people watched the show in secret, Katie loved Kids Network but she watched it in secret; maybe these people had younger siblings or children of their own that watched the show.
Katie soon realized it was the latter when she was at school for a week and while sitting in the library doing some homework, a professor came up to her with her son who wanted an autograph and a picture. Katie happily obliged, being alone in the corner and after snapping pics, she told the professor to keep this low, she didn't want the media getting wind of her whereabouts yet. The professor agreed and left happy that her son was satisfied and Katie was as good a role model as anyone; being courteous and polite.
Katie finished up the semester with little interruption and returned to LA at the end of April for the next season that had been renewed over Christmas break. Katie looked over the scripts and thought they looked great and loved the topics that were now getting a bit more serious. She knew it was all up to the acting and how well everyone could portray the emotion needed. Katie was no problem, but they did have a weak link in one of the guys, Walter. He was given less serious parts and a bit more comedy to keep the show light hearted enough for kids to be entertained. Walter wasn't happy about this at all; the strawberry blond, hazel eyed boy was only 17 but he acted as if he was 30; way to mature for a kids show but his talents were as good as it got for someone with his looks so the network had to settle.
Another thing that got on everyone's nerves was the fact that they had to move to a smaller sound stage. The one they were in was too big for what they needed and were budgeted so they were moved to a smaller stage closer to the main gates. It was fine and everyone would just adjust to the smaller space in their dressing rooms, however they soon realized that they were sharing the space with a popular show, Big Time Rush. While the band was on tour and taking a break between seasons, TOSHS was to rent out the stage. Katie was super excited to share a sound stage with her favorite idols and swooned over the sets that had been packed in a corner to make room for TOSHS sets.
Katie was in a great mood; just being in the presence of BTR items made her heart flutter. She was infatuated with the show and the guys were amazing singers, dancers and were so kind and down to earth. Katie had more energy than ever and the whole place was just bright with her good mood. Except for Walter who still held a grudge. He ignored Katie and actually despised her, blaming her for his comedy routine he was forced to have. Katie didn't notice, Walter's rage since the guys never talked with much anyway. The season wrapped and they were free to go for another Holiday, this time however, the show was gaining a steady following and therefore more interest and Katie was booked solid until the day before Christmas Eve with interviews and appearances.
She stayed in LA for another week before catching a flight back home where news media had been hounding her parents. They had gotten frustrated at all the attention they were receiving and instead of being welcoming like last time, they lashed out at her in anger. Her heart sank as she heard and felt her parents cold words; her world seemed to be so good for a while and now it was just crumbling like it did before all this started. She shook it off after a while and tried to ignore it as best she could by pretending nothing never happened in the first place. Things calmed down afterwards and Katie organized a few interviews herself to settle the crowds and to put out a bulletin to leave her family alone.
With the media satisfied in their quest for answers and future shows booked for after Christmas, Katie and her family spent a quiet evening at their home for the holidays. After the new year Katie traveled her state and to NewYork to tape guest appearances for upcoming talk shows. Katie made a few appearances at the Academy as well where the staff was buzzing with questions, all of which Katie declined to answer as she just wanted to check up on things and get some paperwork done. Liam was still a tad cold to her although he was more open now. He held no grudge against her really, he was just hurt that she left without saying goodbye; not that he gave her much of a choice, he didn't want to face her. Slowly but surely they rebuilt their friendship and ended up on better terms than before. Katie was happy that she had her best friend back, she needed him to lean on when times were rough; she missed him a lot when she was in LA.
Jess was her only friend that she knew well and while she was still there, she was taking on bigger projects and wasn't around as much although she still lived in the bunk house. Things were getting hairy with Katie's cast mates; she got along with the girls but they seemed to be more open to each other, excluding Katie from many activities and hang out sessions. The guys were always distant, Walter actually down right hating her; even the older cast members left Katie in the dust. She couldn't understand why though, she was courteous, kind, and always had her door open. Maybe it was because Katie was co-writer and director now? The show was becoming a huge success thanks to all of her input and changes but maybe the other cast mates didn't like it, it wasn't what they signed up for and being locked in a contract, they couldn't leave.
Katie surrounded plots around big and deep subjects but she didn't surround all of the problems on her character as originally plotted, instead she hung the problems over other characters both permanent and temporary. Something wasn't sitting right with her cast mates and she wanted to get to the bottom to it but they didn't seem to be open to the idea. If they wanted out, they could tell her, she could write them off. Did they want bigger parts? Consider it done! But she heard nothing and felt like she was expected to be a mind reader and fix the problem herself. Wait…Was she the problem?
Shortly after the start of February, Katie was called back to LA to film the next season which had been ordered on the large size by the network at 26 episodes. They got to work straight away and everything seemed to be going well. Katie tried being more outgoing but she quickly realized that her cast mates didn't seem to like that at all; she could sense that they were just being tolerable. She took the hint and although she remained friendly, she shut down her social interactions.
Half way through filming the season, BTR had to come in to do some re-shoots and promotional shots so Katie and her cast mates were restricted to one half of the sound stage while BTR's crew pulled out the sets they needed and took the other half. With extra people, the stars had to condense rooms to give the guys a place to crash during shoots. Walter and Brady shared one room while Cassandra and Frankie shared the another one, leaving BTR to split two rooms amongst themselves. The guys didn't mind sharing but they felt bad for taking other people's dressing rooms and sent their apologies and some gifts to the ones displaced.
The guys were greeted with sarcasm, rudeness and arrogant attitudes from the four cast mates and were put off by the display. They assumed Katie would be the same way and left her alone without even trying to say hello. They had all already met before when Katie sat in on their table read and episode production but they didn't get to know each other and didn't recognize the name. Katie sat on the sidelines of some of their shoots, watching from a distance so she wouldn't interfere or get in trouble but also so she could see and hear what was going on in her section of the stage. When the guys finished, she hurried away to her dressing room to avoid getting caught as the guys unknowingly followed her towards her own dressing room.
She opened the door and bolted inside the dark room before shutting the door behind her in a hurry. She waited for a moment trying to catch her breath but something else caught her attention. Before she could grasp what was going on, a pair of hands grabbed her and pulled her away from the door. Her mouth was covered to hide her screams but they couldn't keep a tight grip on her as she struggled. She fought well but in the dark and sudden grasp, she inevitably lost the battle and ended up on the floor, full of pain as she was hit once, twice then a third time in the face and head. She was weak and disoriented but saw a shadowy figure leave the room. She tried calling out for help and getting up but she couldn't move or say anything. She sat in the dark, scared and in pain before her eyes became heavy and she slipped into unconsciousness.
The next morning was full of activity fairly early on. Staff were all over the place or both shows as they changed sets, decorated and did other work as they waited for the cast to show up. One by one the others showed up but Katie hadn't arrived yet. Guessing she was in her dressing room, still sleeping, Andrea went to wake her up gently and call her to the set.
"Katie?" she said, knocking on the door. "Katie. Time to wake up, you're need on set in an hour." she didn't hear a response so she walked in, slowly opening the door only to find Katie missing.
The room was a tad dark with the blinds drawn but there was enough light to see a good portion of her room. The pull out couch was intact and her room was a slight mess as usual. Andrea turned on the light and screamed. Staff members came running and found her propped against the wall in the hallway, holding her head. She couldn't speak words and could only point. Seth, a stage hand peeked in to see what all the fuss was about. In the center of the floor was a small spot of blood, nothing too big but still creepy non the less. The room was in shambles, looking as if a fight had gone down. One by one, the staff took their turn looking in before finally collecting themselves to try and find Katie and see if she was alright and just what exactly went on here last night.
Katie woke up in dark room, everything was quiet except for a soft, familiar beeping that hurt her head every time it went off. After looking around for a while she saw she was in a hospital and things started to piece themselves together. It was late and dark when she came to after being pummeled. She managed to move just a little but it was enough to get her going and she crawled her way to the couch and pulled herself up. She was weak and lightheaded as her head pounded relentlessly. Her vision was blurred and obviously bleeding. She felt her way out of the room and found herself in the dark hallway as she tried calling out for help. Nothing came out and no one was around to hear her anyway.
She felt her way around the building slowly, soon finding her way outside. With her eyes shut, she relied on her memory and sense of direction to find her car. She found it quickly and climbed in; she wasn't fit to drive but she didn't really have that option. The roads were barren at this late hour, which made it a little safer since she was all over the road. She pulled into the hospital parking lot and pulled sloppily into a parking space before hobbling her way to the main entrance of the emergency ward in pain and covered in blood. Nurses and staff rushed to her immediately as they saw her trudge through the door and began working over her and asking her questions, all of which was a blur.
She was awake and alert but she wasn't really keeping what she heard and saw as she was worked on with a calm and organized urgency. The pain she felt was overcome with tiredness and she soon drifted to sleep. Now that she was awake in her own room, she assumed that she was fine. She had only basic monitoring equipment on her but she was starting to feel more pain as she moved around and became more awake. The heart monitor beeped more frequently, echoing in her head like a drum. A nurse came in to check on her, noticing the readings on her own computer and injected some morphine into her IV.
"Other than the pain, how are you feeling, Katie?" the nurse asked. Katie looked up to her in confusion and surprise at the sound of her name. How did they find that out? Katie was still confused at some of her own details but was able to recognize her own name at least.
"My head….pounding…" she said in a slurred, choppy voice. Upon hearing herself, she wondered if this was permanent or just because she was weak. How much damage did she have? She didn't need this with her career just getting started. The nurse left her alone and with the morphine starting to kick in, Katie was knocked right back out.
Back at the studio, staff had spent the entire day searching the stage, the lot and any place they could think of. They searched the sound stage, other stages, the entire lot and nearby businesses. They tried thinking of places to search and even called hospitals but information wasn't given over the phone so the staff broke up into groups and set on a journey to each hospital in town. After 2 hours, they finally found her but she wasn't allowed visitors, nor was her info released. Still worried about what condition she was in, they were happy to know she was alive and well at least. A meeting was held to try and piece together not only what would happen now but what on earth happened. The room was in shambles, much more than Katie's lived in organizational habits; things were broken, strewn about the room plus the puddle of blood. Police investigated the issue but found nothing they could use and therefore termed the incident as an accident, despite how much it looked like foul play.
After a week, Katie was feeling much better and with her mobility and motor skills up to par, she was released. It was a long and lonely week in the hospital by herself; she wasn't allowed visitors but she was allowed to call out. She called home at night when things were quieter in the hospital, that way she wouldn't send any red flags about her health or whereabouts. She kept in contact with her agent and the director and gave as much info as she could remember although it wasn't much to go on. She recalled the incident and knew there was someone in her room who did this but she couldn't remember anything that stuck out to give that person away. There was no evidence that anyone was in her room so it couldn't be totally believed, especially with her head injury and partial memory loss, that would return after a few months.
With everything back to normal and police and other investigators were no longer in the way, filming the rest of the season took place but by this time, they had already run over there allotted time, to use the stage and ended up sharing the stage with BTR again. The guys came with flowers and some chocolate for Katie, who they heard had the accident and wanted to cheer her up. This time, the guys recognized her after they finally met her and were happy to hang out more often when they could. Katie and Carlos got along great, becoming close friends. James was distant, not seeing her as a friend but more of an acquaintance. James liked conversing with attractive people and Katie didn't really fall into that category. He wasn't ignoring her though, he conversed with her on and off when they crossed paths.
Kendall was the level headed one of the group and always made Katie feel welcome, treating her kind of special. There was something about her that made him happy, he wasn't in love, far from it but she had such a bright personality and outlook despite all her hardships in life and since she got here. She was a kind hearted person, just like Carlos but she had lots of love to give and strong care taking instincts that often boiled over into home baked goods that she brought into share with everyone. Katie spent more time with BTR than her own cast mates, who's aversion to her only grew stronger.