A/N: Thanks for all the love guys. I send it right back.

Sun Down

Chapter Four

I'll throw a stone into the wishing well.

The distance that his friends had been giving him since he blew up on their choreographer last week was refreshing to Logan. It made it a little easier to breathe. But everything was back to the way it was on Monday morning when school started. Logan had still been forced to wake up an hour before everyone else so that he could get his fair share of time in the bathroom before his royal highness came barging in demanding to be left alone with himself and his reflection.

Logan met Katie in the kitchen; she was still clad in her pajamas. She had her eyes closed, chin on the counter, a bowl before her but the cereal and milk had yet to be poured in. Logan couldn't suppress his smile. Kendall's little sister liked to act so grown up all the time, and yet she was really so young. It was just little moments like those that reminded Logan that Katie was still a kid, no matter how badly she wanted to grow up.

Logan poured the cereal and milk into the bowl for her, set it at the table and then lifted Katie. She jerked awake and Logan laughed, "Relax." He set her down at the table. She looked down at the bowl in front of her and then to Logan. She smiled embarrassed then mumbled a thank you.

He joined her at the table and soon Kendall emerged from his bedroom, Carlos stumbling closely after. James was already in the bathroom, lathering himself in Cuda to a point where Logan thought it might really be unhealthy.

Logan was lacing up his shoes by the time Carlos finally got to use the bathroom. He'd gotten in to the habit of taking showers at night since he wouldn't get one in the morning without being late for school or waking up as early as Logan. It was a compromise that Carlos wouldn't make.

He waited for his friends as long as he could before he decided that if he waited any longer for Kendall and James to finish breakfast, or Carlos to find his other sock, that he would be late. So he and Katie left. She was still in a tired daze, and Logan wouldn't really know how to strike up a conversation with the young girl even if she wasn't. She was brilliant of course, but she was like, ten. And it would just be awkward if Logan started poking around asking if she had crushes on anyone. That was James's area of expertise. He and Katie talked about love lives sometimes. It kind of worried Logan, what horrible inappropriate things James could tell her. What he might have told her. But still, James was the only one who knew which little boy at the Palm Woods Katie had a crush on. Not even their mother or Kendall knew.

Camille and Jo circled him, and Katie sat down next to Tyler.

"Where's Kendall?" Jo asked.

"Eating breakfast." Logan replied with a shrug.

"He's going to be late." Jo said disapprovingly shaking her head.

Camille slipped her hand down towards Logan's and tried to lace her fingers with his. But he pulled back. He saw the look of hurt on her face, and felt bad but still, what was he supposed to do? They weren't a couple anymore. Friends with benefits was a pretty good term, even though Logan still harbored feelings for the wayward female. But she had kissed his best friend. Logan supposed that the first step of him trying to change things for himself was breaking things off with Camille. If he hadn't, things would be just as they were and what she did would have been okay. But it wasn't okay. Logan couldn't let her think it was, lest it happen again. And maybe one day they could patch things up, but it wasn't today.

Miss Collin's called of the Palm Woods kids into class. James, Carlos and Kendall came running from around the corner, skidding to a halt right before the class room door. They had made it without being late by some miracle.

The boys sat together, Carlos behind Logan and Kendall behind James. Jo and Camille sat next to Kendall.

"All right, now class, today-"

"Excuse me?"

Logan's eyes shot up from his empty desk to the doorway when he heard the voice. There, leaning against the frame stood Maddy, clad in in a washed out blue summer dress and black combo boots, her dark blonde hair tousled, and a satchel slung over her shoulders, the strap coming across her chest. What was she? A model? It was ridiculous.

"Yes, dear, can I help you?" Miss Collin's asked in her sickeningly sweet voice, which rather irritated Logan from time to time.

"I'm a new student." She said pushing nonchalantly off the door frame and taking a step forward to hand Miss Collin's a few pieces of paper. Miss Collin's glanced over the papers and then said, "Welcome Madison, I'm Miss Collin's."

"Thanks."

Miss Collin's looked over the class, scanning for an empty seat. And then Logan realized something. The only empty seat in the room was next to him. "Next to Mr. Mitchell please." Miss Collin's pointed in his direction.

He sat wide eyes, slightly frozen. Their eyes met and the corners of her mouth tugged upwards into a slight smile. Logan had wondered whether or not he would ever get a chance to talk to Maddy again, and yet, now, here she was, sitting next to him in their tiny, cramped classroom.

When she sat down beside him, Logan couldn't help himself, as subtly as he could he took a deep breath. She smelled so heavenly. The scent of cigarettes much less prominent than it had been the night they sat poolside.

She didn't so much as spare him a glance, but Logan could hardly bare to look away from her. He didn't even try to hide it; he was studying her face, taking in her profile, memorizing the shape of her lips, and how her nose curved slightly up at the end. She had a long, graceful neck, like a swan, Logan thought. Her eyelashes were unbelievably long, and being so close to her he could see that they were all natural except for some mascara. A thin strip of black liquid eyeliner ran smoothly across her eyelid turning up slightly at the end. The skin under her eyes was dark, maybe from a lack of sleep, maybe from too many cigarettes. Or both.

Logan was surprised that she didn't say anything to him. He was blatantly staring at her, his head turned completely in her direction, eyes on her face for the longest time. But her dark green eyes remained forward, following Miss Collin's across the room as if she was actually paying attention to whatever she was saying.

When class ended, she stood with her things then looked down at him, still in his chair. "Hey Logan." She said with a tone of amusement.

He forced himself to stand, with whatever boots she was wearing they stood at the same height. "Hi Maddy."

They stood there awkwardly as other students began to leave the class. Neither was ignorant to the looks she received as one by one teenagers and younger kids passed by. Some amazed, almost star struck by her, and other's like Camille, he saw, looked at her like she was something vile. It kind of upset Logan.

"Well," she said, "I suppose I should be on my way."

"No," Logan reached out, she flinched. He tried not to let it faze him, and he tried not to notice how she looked away from him with a penitent look on her lovely face. "Wait." He wasn't quite sure what he had been going to say, but she met his eyes once more.

"I, um, have you made any friends here yet?"

She let out a short burst of laughter and Logan was mesmerized by the smile that blessed her lips and the look in her exotic eyes. "I don't think I really want to."

"Well, you, um, you can come with me, yeah? Meet my friends. They aren't all that bad." Logan told her shrugging slightly.

She gave him a long look; like she wasn't entirely too sure that she could trust Logan. She shifted her weight and looked down to the floor for a moment. Her eyes finally rose and scanned over Logan's face quickly before she said, "yeah, sure."

"We usually just get a smoothie and hang out by the pool, is that alright with you?" he asked.

"I think I'll skip on swimming, but a smoothie sounds nice." She said softly.

"Great, um, do you want to go put your stuff away or-"

"Yeah, I'll meet you in the lobby. Give me about five minutes."

"Cool, yeah, great. Awesome."

The corners up her lips twitched up and her alluring green eyes looked him over once more. Wow. He thought to himself. What an idiot you are. You just told her yes four times. Great. Idiot.

Logan raced up to 2J so that he could put his things away. The others were already down by the pool; he saw when he peeked out the window. As he made his way back down stairs he realized he was slightly nervous about this. Camille was amongst their group and so was James. Camille just might rip Madison's head off. But then again, Maddy looked like she could bitch it up if she needed to. But James was James. It was only a matter of time until he made a move on Maddy anyways. Not like Logan really cared, if he wanted to lie to himself, Logan didn't have a chance with this girl anyways, so why did it matter? Besides, he wasn't over Camille yet either.

When Logan heard the ding of the elevator door, he stood up straight and adjusted himself. Madison came walking out, the same thing on as earlier, just minus her bag. She came over to him, one hand holding the opposite arm, almost like she was nervous. "Hey."

"Let's get smoothies." Logan smiled.

"Okay."

Once they had their smoothies in hand, Logan led her outside. At a shady table sat, James, Kendall, Carlos, Jo, Camille and Guitar Dude. As soon as they approached, Camille's eyes met his with a fire. But he ignored her. She had no say in his life anymore. That was kind of harsh, maybe not no say, just not as much of a say.

"Guys," Logan said as he and Maddy sat down. "This is Madison."

The boys received her cheerfully enough, but even though Jo smiled, he could see what she was thinking. This girl was a threat. Camille truly was a great actress. She plastered on a smile and greeted her warmly. If it had been real, maybe Logan would have admired her for it, but it wasn't and it just kind of disappointed him.

"So where are you from?" Jo asked taking a sip of Kendall's smoothie even though she had her own in front of her. It was a subtly possessive gesture, like she was trying to show Madison that Kendall was off limits.

"West Hollywood." Maddy replied looking down at her smoothie and swiveling the straw.

"Nice." James said sending his most charismatic smile in her direction. Logan had literally seen girls swoon over that smile. He'd seen faces fall flat, at a loss for words, blank expressions because they just couldn't process how handsome he was. But Madison barely glanced at him; she wasn't fazed at all by him. Maybe beautiful people had less of an effect on each other.

"So, what do you do?" Kendall spoke up, he put his arm around Jo, seeming to catch on to how she was feeling.

"I don't do anything." She answered.

"What do you mean?" Carlos leaned forward.

She met his eyes, Logan noticed how Carlos faltered. "I mean I don't do anything."

"Don't you have to be in show business in order to attend the Palm Woods school?" Camille crossed her legs and examined her nails.

"Not if you're a relative of an employee."

They all gave her the same confused look. "Who?"

"You might know my uncle, he's the maintenance man. His name is Robert."

"I don't know any Robert." Guitar Dude said with a strum of his guitar.

"Your uncle is Buddha Bob?" Logan asked.

"Oh!" Guitar Dude exclaimed, "Buddha Bob, that guy's great."

She quirked an eyebrow, looking at Logan. "I guess he's Buddha Bob, I always knew him as Uncle Rob."

It seemed that everyone shared the same thought. It was so weird to think that Buddha Bob actually had a life outside of trimming hedges.

"So what brings you here?" James asked.

Madison shrugged, and smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes, "there's just some things going on right now."

For a week, Madison and Logan sat next to each other in class. Everyone once in a while exchanging a smile. Talking briefly, but nothing ever really got said between the two. Logan didn't see how anything would. He didn't know her and she didn't know him. But there was something about her, a dark cloud followed her. He didn't know why, or what it was, but it was there, visible in the faraway look of her eyes. The way she seemed so distant to everyone else. How her smile never quite reached her eyes, and he'd only heard her laugh once.

But everything about Madison began to intrigue Logan. Every day he sat there in class, half paying attention to Miss Collin's half of his mind admiring the young woman beside him. The way her hair fell, the slow blink of her eyes, the scent of cigarettes and warm perfume that clung to her and stirred in the air every time she moved. He even analyzed her wardrobe. He knew nothing about style except for what James forced upon him. But it was obvious that she knew how to dress. Being from West Hollywood, Logan wasn't surprised that she had an excellent sense of fashion. She looked like she belonged on a runway in New York most days, instead of sitting in the Palm Woods makeshift classroom, paying attention to Miss Collin's talk about things she probably would never use again in her life after she left the room.

One day as they entered the classroom, before Madison arrived, James leaned over to Logan and said, "Switch seats with me today."

"What, no. Why?"

"Because, I need to make a move on Maddy." James said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Logan looked at him blankly and said, "Fuck you."

"Sorry bro, not into dudes, but I think that guy over there-"

Madison walked in then. She had her eyes to the floor, she didn't say anything to Logan when she sat down. But she reeked of cigarettes more than she normally did.

James hit him and Logan hit back just as hard. There was something off. Logan may not know her well enough, or well at all, to be able to tell what it was. But he knew there was something wrong.

Her eyes were cloudy, she looked lost. She stared blankly ahead at the black board. She didn't follow Miss Collin's she just stared. She left right after class without saying anything to Logan. He always got something from her, a hello, a goodbye, if not a smile, then at least the hint of one pulling on the corners of her lips. But she was gone before Logan even had all of his things together. He wanted to go after her, but they had to go to the studio.

Logan concentrated on the music; he sang the words with feeling. It was probably one of his best recording sessions. Even the normally unappreciative Gustavo complimented him on his days' work. As they danced, he took each and every step to heart, memorizing it, getting the timing right. He was motivating himself to be better. He didn't want to be the last one on the list anymore. He wanted to have a share of the spotlight. He didn't just want to be the brain. The only way he could do that was to change the way he did things. He needed to do things better, and so now he was trying.

He even stayed after all the guys, asking Gustavo for advice, how he could be better. Gustavo looked at him like he was an alien, but in the end, he gave him some advice. So Logan left Roque Records feeling a bit more accomplished than he did when he yelled at their choreographer.

With his duffel bag slung over his shoulder, he walked through the park back to the Palm Woods. He felt himself smile when he saw the well that he and the other boys fell into with Jordin Sparks. He even felt himself begin to laugh at the memory of him and Carlos trying to be her good luck charms.

There was someone sitting on the edge of the well, and as he drew closer he realized that he recognized the figure. So he walked over. Madison sat on the edge of the well dropping stones and listening to them echo.

"Hey." Logan said softly, afraid that if he startled her she'd fall in. It was easy to do, Logan would know.

She looked at him, her face blank, "hey."

"You're supposed to drop coins." He set his bag down.

"I haven't got any." She told him dropping in another stone. "I figured that if I dropped enough stones that it would eventually be worth a penny."

Logan dug into the pocket of his jeans and handed her a dime. "Here."

She looked from the silver coin in his hand, to his face. It was a moment before she took it, but eventually, she did. She held it close to her heart and closed her pretty green eyes before she reached out of the open air and dropped it into the well.

"Did you make a wish?"

She nodded gazing into his eyes. But Logan couldn't read the expression on her face.

"What did you wish for?"

"I can't tell you that." She said quietly, looking away from him. "Otherwise it won't come true. And I really want this one to."

She looked back into the well. But the desperate tone of her voice and the forlorn expression on her face didn't escape his notice. Neither did the dark purple bruises on her bicep.

A/N: So I have decided there really won't be any filler chapters in this story. I don't want it to drag on, so I'm just going to get right into the plot. I hope you don't mind. Also, I posted a link the sight where you can see pictures of the model I chose as Madison. Let me know if you like her or not. I think she's stunning.

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