Chapter Four is up! Whoo Hoo!

Disclaimer: I'll keep it short and sweet: No, I do not own Big Time Rush. End of story.

Guest: Thank you so much! And I'll try to get to "Touch the Flame" very soon :) As for that other thing about a James and Katie hooking up...we'll see...;)

Misslittlemaslow: Thank you so very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it! As for what Katie's going to do...Just wait and see...;)

BTRFan8123: Well, thank you very much! You're so sweet! Is Shane gay? Good question ;P I plan on updating the "DLS-S Cruise" very soon :)

As always, THANK YOU for reviewing, favoriting, and following this story! I love all of you so much!

Enjoy the chapter :)

Chapter Four: Explosion

James' POV (Cont.)

A half an hour later, Shane and I headed out towards my car. Our friends had congratulated us on making the team, we had gotten measured and given our sizes to Logan, who was going to go pick up our uniforms at a specialized store down at the La Castillo mall that evening, and now we were celebrating, acting like a couple of three year olds as we ran, leapt, and laughed all the way to my car.

We reached my car, breathless, panting hard.

"Oh my gosh," Shane breathed out, doubled over. "We are way too happy about this."

"I know," I agreed, laughing as I clutched at the driver's door handle. "It's like we're two girls who got tickets to a Justin Bieber concert."

"Agreed."

"But now we know we won't be alone. And you can continue doing what you love. We both can."

Shane nodded in agreement. "You can stay out on the ice, and I can keep playing hockey."

"Exactly." I unlocked the doors and we climbed in, buckling ourselves up. I started the car and turned on the radio. A MuteMath song came on and I spun the volume dial up, singing along.

Shane rested his elbow on the window ledge, head in his hand, lost in his own thoughts.

I grinned. "Thinking about a certain someone?" The certain someone who had made Shane blush just by complimenting him.

"What? Oh, no, I wasn't." He blushed a little when he realized who I was referring to.

"But you are now."

"Shut up."

I laughed, stopping at an intersection, before proceeding. "So seriously, what were you thinking about?"

"You, actually. And figure skating."

"Ah."

"Do you miss it?"

I nodded. "All the time. But I get to practice sometimes. It's not…it doesn't make my life, the way hockey does for you."

"I know. But you still would have preferred it over hockey. It was your passion."

I shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe I would have changed my mind in a couple of years."

"Dad shouldn't have made you give it up."

"We both know why he did."

"He made you drop out of choir, dance lessons, and drama too, James. And those were the things you really loved too. You loved them just as much as ice skating."

"I know."

"Dad was worried you might turn out…I don't know…He was worried you might end up being…What's the right word?"

"Metro sexual?"

"No, that's not it." He sighed. "I guess he was worried you might turn out all feminine or whatever. I think he was worried about it from the time you were four or five, after you grew out of the chubby toddler phase, when you started looking like a child elf from the Lord of the Rings or Eragon."

I busted out laughing. "A child elf? Really?"

"Yes. Tall, slim, handsome, but kind of feminine. That's how I heard one of Mom's friends describing you. I think Mom must have mentioned it to Dad, because from that day on, he was all about you needing to turn rugged and masculine. It's ironic, isn't it?"

I looked at him. "What is?"

"That you're the one who's into acting and singing and dancing and figure skating and I'm the one who loves hockey and football and basketball and any other sport I can get my hands on. That you were the one Dad was afraid would be an elf, and yet, I'm the one who's gay."

"It's not ironic. It's the way things go sometimes. And being gay doesn't make you any less masculine. There's a ton of male actors and athletes who can verify that. And look at me. Look what I'm into. I'm obsessed with my hair most of the time, I freak out every time I get a slight blemish on my face, and I love fashion. And I'm straight. You're the complete opposite. There's no type for this kind of thing, Shane. I know that's what Dad taught us, but he's wrong. People generally don't fall into stereotypical categories. They just don't. We're too unique, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." He sighed. "I wonder what Dad would think if he knew the truth about me."

"He would fall into a coma and never speak again."

Shane laughed a little. "Yeah, probably, considering it's him. He would probably have a heart attack from the shock."

"Right."

I pulled into the driveway. "Trust me, Shane, whatever we are, that's the way we were created. So, don't worry about whatever it is you're worrying about. You're my brother and I love you."

He smiled slightly at me. "Love you too."

"Come on, let's go see if Mom decides we need to have any more sex talks."

"Ehhhhh…"

Wednesday was fairly quiet, as was Thursday. Nothing truly interesting happened until Friday's PE class. I hadn't had a run-in with Katie (not counting our classes together), and the other figure skaters stayed away from us hockey players. Us hockey players…As lame and goopy as this might sound, it was nice to be able to include Shane and myself in a group. It had been ages since we'd really had any friends.

I met up with Carlos in the boys' locker room and we chatted about hockey and the game that we'd be playing in two weeks. It was the first hockey game of the season, against a nearby town's high school team.

"We almost beat them last year," Carlos said to me regretfully as we walked out into the gymnasium. "We were so close."

"What happened?"

"Well…Kendall and I wanted to get the hockey season started off right…"

"What happened?"I repeated.

"We…um…might have mooned the other team…"

I busted out laughing. "I bet the other team was shocked."

"Uh huh. A couple of them swore that they were blinded for, like, five minutes. I mean, are our butts that hideous?"

I just shook my head, still laughing.

We had moved on from volleyball to dodgeball. We were split into two teams, with Katie and Stephanie on the opposite team. Figures.

Both teams were set up with a ton of balls and when the PE teacher blew the whistle, we began hurtling them at each other.

The guys pretty much went for the other guys, and the girls more or less went for the other girls, I guess to make sure that none of the guys went after them.

Eventually, both teams had lost a significant amount of players, enough to make a huge difference in the dynamics of the game. But Carlos' and my team had lost more. Katie and Stephanie's team had a ton of football players and basketball players, so they had far better aim then we did.

All around me, guys and girls were hit with balls aimed from said football and basketball players, and from Katie and Stephanie. And Stephanie had said she had bad three days ago…

I narrowed my eyes. I had barely had to dodge any balls, and from the look on Carlos' face, he hadn't either. I looked at Katie and Stephanie and saw an identical maniacal gleam in their eyes. They were planning something…

I communicated this to Carlos, just as our very last team members were hit. He nodded.

Katie walked over to Mr. Langly and said something to him. He nodded and she ran off the girls' locker room. Okay, then. Bathroom break.

She returned a few minutes later, a satisfied look on her face. Somehow, I didn't like that look. It made my stomach clench with anxiety.

Just as she was resuming her place with her teammates, the intercom came on: "There is an urgent call for Mr. Langly. Mr. Langly, will you please pick up your phone in your office?"

Mr. Langly nodded at us. "Carry on," and he hurried out of the gym.

Katie and Stephanie grinned as they and the rest of their team walked to the white line that was their boundary.

"GET THEM!" Katie screamed, and suddenly Carlos and I were pelted with hard, rubber volleyballs.

When Mr. Langly returned, saying that the call had been a wrong number, Carlos and I were sitting against the wall with the rest of our team, bruised and sore. He nodded at us, saying that we should get some ice and suggesting to the other team that maybe they should have taken it a little easier on us. No shit.

Ten minutes later, Carlos and I were sitting in the nurse's office, ice packs all over our bodies.

"They did it on purpose," I said through gritted teeth. "It was a set up."

"I know," Carlos agreed, looking just as pissed as I felt. "I guess that's why Katie left – to make the call or something. Or she had someone else do it. Probably Stetson. He'd love to be involved in a scheme like this."

I nodded. "That bitch!"

"I know," he said again, sounding a little more miserable. "How can she hate us so much? She's never been like this before. She's never been this bad."

"She hates me," I told him. "She's hated me from the second she was paired up with me in chem."

"Speaking of which, we're late."

We ditched the ice and got late passes from the nurse, heading to chemistry.

"Oh no," I groaned as we approached the classroom. "I have to partner with Katie. I can't believe I forgot about that."

Carlos made a sympathetic face. "Good luck."

"Thanks…"

We walked into the classroom and handed our late passes to Ms. Straumner and took our seats.

"Kendall, Katie, be sure to fill Carlos and James in on what we're doing today," she said to them. They both nodded, and I saw Kendall mouth "What happened?" to Carlos.

I turned to Katie after I snapped my safety glasses on, mouth set in a straight line. "Let's just get this over with. What're we doing today?"

"You know, I never realized how much a ball can bruise," Katie said thoughtfully, poking at one of the bruises on my arm.

"Hey!"

"Does that hurt?"

"Yes!"

"Good." She did it again.

I jerked my thumb away from her. "Can we just get on with the lesson?"

"You're lucky Ms. Straumner has a late policy – she won't make you partner with someone else unless your partner is more than fifteen minutes late. Otherwise, thanks to you and Carlos, I would have been stuck with Kendork."

"Your brother's a really nice guy."

"I don't really care." She moved to a small bruise on my collarbone. How I had managed to get a bruise there was beyond me.

"Stop that."

"No." She poked at it.

"Yes."

"No."

"We're supposed to be doing chemistry."

"Read the book. It explains everything you need to know."

Figuring that was the best explanation I would get from Katie, I grabbed the book, and began going through today's lesson plan.

In the meantime, Katie had rolled up one of the sleeves of my t-shirt. "Ooh, you're ripped."

"You hit me with a ball in the bicep."

"Yep." She grinned, poking the bruises on my bicep.

I ignored her, starting on the experiment.

She jabbed at the bruise a little.

"You're really annoying."

"I prefer bitchy."

"You're that too."

She smirked, jabbing her nail into my skin. My arm jerked slightly.

I glared at her and her smirk widened. Her eyes flickered up to somewhere to my right. I glanced in that direction, and saw Kendall, Carlos, and Stephanie and Jo giving Katie and me looks that plainly said What the hell?!

I threw a look back at Kendall and Carlos, trying to say, What? You think I'm enjoying being poked and prodded and jabbed like some new insect species?

They shrugged at me in response. I shook my head at them, mouthing "Hell no".

I turned back to the experiment, checking the measurements for the next part of the experiment. Katie finally stopped jabbing at my skin. I relaxed a little, adding the next liquid to the experiment.

"Hmmm…" Katie lifted my arm up, examining it.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, staring at her. What was with her and my arm?!

"You must work out a lot."

"Um…yeah…I guess…"

"I can tell." She squeezed my bicep and I bit back a startled gasp. What the hell?!

She did it again. "Nice and hard and big."

I bit my lip. Was she flirting with me?

I almost snorted at that thought. The girl had launched an attack of volleyballs at Carlos and me a half hour earlier and had gotten on me for being late because of it. No. This was just another one of her games.

Katie squeezed my bicep again, before moving to my shoulder, which was still t-shirt clad.

"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed at her, not missing the way she ran her hands over my shoulder and down my chest.

"Estimating the amount of damage the balls did to you."

"Not enough to keep me from playing hockey, if that's what you were hoping."

"I figured. You're a hockey player. You're used to being attacked."

"Can I have my body back please?"

"I'm not finished."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm really not." She moved her hands over my chest. "Ooh…" She made a noise of appreciation, before flicking her thumb over one of my nipples.

And here I was, just sitting here, taking it. I could have been doing something constructive, like getting on the phone with my lawyer and seeing if I could sue Katie for sexual harassment.

The only problem was…I think I kind of liked it…

But seriously, where was Ms. Straumner when you needed her?

I looked around and saw that she was helping Kendall and Carlos, who's flask appeared to be smoking. Her back was to us, so she couldn't see the way Katie was trying to feel me up. And was everyone else in the room completely oblivious to this?

Apparently so.

Seriously. I bet if I started doing this to her, she'd scream "Rape!" Granted, I'd be groping her chest…Okay, maybe she would have a good reason to scream "Rape!"

But still, I couldn't let her get away with this. She hated me. I hated her. She had just launched a whole bunch of volleyballs at Carlos and me. Hate doesn't get much more defined than that. Those things hurt.

She slid her hands down to my abs. Okay, fine. I'd let her have this one last area of groping, but any lower and I was going to take action. I'd get a hall pass from Ms. Straumner and hustle to the boys' bathroom like nobody's business.

Finally, she pulled her hands away.

"Are you done assessing the damage?" I asked, trying to sound annoyed.

"Not quite."

"You need to add the next part."

"You do that."

"I just did the first part. You do the second part."

"I will, in a moment." She slipped her hands under my t-shirt, placing them on my abs. Her fingers were warm against my bare skin, but my body still shuddered slightly.

Her fingers brushed lightly over one of the bruises on my stomach and I winced.

"There?"

I wordlessly nodded.

She passed her fingers over it again. "Poor baby." She smirked.

"Please just add the next chemical," I pleaded.

"Why? Are you getting turned on?" her smirk widened.

"No. But I was hoping to pass the class."

"You are, aren't you? I can see it in your eyes."

I avoided her eyes. "I'm not."

"You so are."

"You don't know what you're talking about." I made sure to wedge my lap under the table.

She laughed quietly. "You really think that's going to hide it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said haughtily. "Add the next ingredient."

She grinned and did so. She turned the Bunsen burner on. "And now we wait."

"Now we wait."

"You know what you'd be really good at?"

I eyed her hesitantly. "What?"

"A strip tease. Seriously, you'd be an awesome male stripper. You have the perfect body for it."

I smirked a little. "Why don't you just admit that you like my body?"

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't."

"And yet, that's why you keep touching me. And don't use that line about figuring out what damage you did. You can't see bruises through cotton."

Her face began to turn red and her eyes darkened in anger behind her safety glasses. "You're an ass. You're obviously one of those guys who think that girls would love to sleep with him just because he looks good."

"I don't think that," I snapped back. "You're the one who couldn't keep your hands off my body!"

"Bruises, idiot, bruises!"

"Even if that is the case, it still makes you a mega bitch. You don't care, do you? You don't care what you do to people. You just go out of your way to hurt people."

"You can't just waltz into this school and act like you belong here! You don't! You're nothing but a hick outsider. And don't think that joining the hockey team will protect you. Stephanie and I proved today that it won't. It's like I said yesterday, Diamond – you need to stay the hell out of my way. Well, since you obviously can't do that – "

"We're partnered together! We're in four periods together!"

" – I'm going to make your life a living hell."

"Bring it!" I snarled. "Show me what you got!"

"Go to hell, Diamond!"

"Save me a seat, Knight."

"I – " Before she could say anything else, there was a sudden explosion as our concoction erupted in the flask, sending glass shards everywhere. Katie and I both leapt to our feet, instinctively turning our heads away from the flying glass.

Everyone in the class got to their feet too so that they could see who had blown up their science experiment.

And there Katie and I stood, fists clenched, covered with little bits of glass and dripping with a mixture of burnt liquids, glaring ferociously at each other.

Ms. Straumner quietly walked over to us. She took a deep breath and looked at us. "Detention. Go get cleaned up."

Detention at Castillo High is generally held either during study hall or after school, depending on whether or not you belong to an after-school club or team. Since Katie and I both technically did, our detention was during study hall.

To say that I was not looking forward to it was the understatement of the century.

After I managed to get the different household substances (because Ms. Straumner was smart enough not to let a whole bunch of high school students handle dangerous chemicals) and the glass out of my hair and clothes, I headed to the cafeteria.

I grabbed a couple slices of pizza and joined my friends and brother.

"So…the tension between you and Katie got so hot that your experiment exploded?" Shane smirked at me, stuffing a couple of fries into his mouth.

I glared at him. "No! We were fighting and weren't paying attention to the experiment."

"What was going on before it exploded?" Carlos asked me. "I mean, it kind of looked like she had her hands all over you…"

Shane's eyes lit up and his smirk widened. "Oh, do tell, big brother. Let's hear the whole story, sordid details included."

The supportive, innocent little brother he was not.

I glanced at Kendall, not sure if he would want to hear this, but he looked just as interested as Shane, Carlos, and Logan did. I quietly filled them in on what had happened.

When I had finished, there was complete silence as everyone took in the information.

"Wow…" Carlos said.

"I'll say," Kendall agreed. "I knew my sister was a game player, but that's taking it to a whole new level…"

Shane and Logan both nodded. "That's some seriously mixed signals," Logan stated. "I mean, from what she was saying it sounded like she was trying to make herself believe that she was just trying to sniff out your bruises, but from what she was doing…I mean…" he glanced a little hesitantly at Kendall. "It was kind of…sexual…"

"I know," I said, taking a bite of pizza. "I don't know what was going on."

"Well, it's simple," Carlos piped up. "She hates your guts, but she wants your dick."

We all choked on our food at his statement.

Carlos took a bite of his corndog. "What?" he said, blinking innocently at us. "It's true. She does. It's so obvious. It sounds to me like she was having a hard enough time keeping her hands off of you. I bet she was really struggling to keep from mounting you right then and there."

We all choked again.

"Man, you guys are all so innocent." He finished off his corndog. "I need sugar. I'm gonna go get a rainbow pop." He got to his feet and skipped off.

We all exchanged incredulous looks.

"That's the guy who just said that Katie wants James'…um...?" Logan blushed bright red.

"Yeah, that's the guy who said it," Kendall nodded. "Wow…Gotta love Carlos…"

Shane grinned at me. "You better hope Mom doesn't find out about this, otherwise she'll definitely enforce The Talk on you."

"Wait, what?" Logan and Kendall both turned to Shane.

Smirking widely, he filled them in on the conversation with Mom at dinner a couple of nights before. By the time he had finished, Carlos had rejoined us, sucking happily on his popsicle.

"Awk-ward!" he chimed.

"I know," I agreed. "It was awful. I never want to have to go through that again. So don't you dare tell her," I added warningly to Shane.

He grinned. "Now, do you really think I would? Really?"

"Yes, I really do."

He snickered.

Eventually it was time to head to the detention classroom. The guys walked with me to the room. I nodded at them and opened the door, slipping into the classroom.

Katie was already there, sitting at a desk at the front of the classroom, arms crossed, a furious expression on her face.

"Ah, good, Mr. Diamond," Ms. Straumner said to me. I looked at her in surprise.

"You're the overseer – I mean, detention teacher?"

"Yes, James, I'm the detention teacher."

"Oh."

"You can take a seat next to Katie."

"Do I have to?"

"Do you want to go to hockey practice this afternoon?"

"Yes…"

"Good. Then take a seat."

I reluctantly slumped down in the seat next to Katie. She didn't even look at me. That was just fine with me.

I pulled out my homework to get started on it, while thinking that if Ms. Straumner had been paying more attention, if she had noticed what Katie was doing, or that we were arguing, then our experiment wouldn't have blown up.

There was only a couple other kids in the classroom, and Ms. Straumner pretty much kept to her desk.

No one even tried to talk, and Katie didn't try to check for more bruises or whatever the hell she'd been doing during chemistry earlier. I was half relieved and half disappointed. I didn't mind being relieved, but I really hated that I was disappointed, like I actually wanted her hands on me again. Because I didn't. I definitely didn't. Not really. Well, maybe kind of…A little bit…A little bit a lot…

The bell rang, signaling the end of that period, and we all got to our feet. Katie and I both made a dash for the door, determined to get to the door first. Because she was smaller and better at dodging furniture, she got to the door first. She slid through it, and I followed, before realizing that that meant that we had to walk to English class together.

"I'm glad you're covered in bruises," Katie stated bluntly as we walked outside, heading for the Arts and Humanities building.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm glad you're covered in bruises. At my doing, I mean. That I'm responsible."

It was such a weird statement that I turned to stare at her.

"So I wasn't admiring your body or touching you because I wanted to. I was admiring my handiwork."

She wasn't fooling me. Her voice was a little too loud, a little too blank, a little to void of emotion, to agree with her words. But since I was still telling myself that I really hated her touching me, I figured it wasn't worth trying to press on the subject. There was a certain feeling lurking at the back of my mind that told me that if we pushed on this, we'd end up in quite the compromising position.

I just wasn't sure what kind of compromising position it would be.

"Whatever. I wouldn't actually think that you'd want to touch me. Even if you seemed to be enjoying yourself."

"I wasn't."

"Sure you weren't."

Okay, maybe being sarcastic was pressing on the subject a tiny bit. But I had every right to be sarcastic. She had practically molested me in chem. lab!

We reached the English classroom and sat down at our respective seats. Mrs. Wattburgon started the class a couple minutes later. However, five minutes into our lecture, the classroom door opened, and a tall woman with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a track suit, walked in.

"I'm Katie's coach, Sarah," she introduced herself. "I need to borrow Katie for the rest of the class to go over some training techniques. I hope you don't mind."

Mrs. Wattburgon frowned. "Actually, I do. I was planning on going over some points that will be covered in this weekend's homework. I think Katie would benefit from sitting through the rest of today's class."

"No. She needs to train. She missed our after lunch training session because she was in detention." Sarah looked directly at me, as if it was all my fault Katie and I had blown up our chemistry experiment. Couldn't anyone just say Hey, at least you didn't blow up the classroom?

Mrs. Wattburgon's frowned intensified. "She needs to stay in class."

"She needs to train. She can catch up later. She can ask a fellow student for help. She's coming with me. Katie, pack up."

I looked across the room at her. She hesitated, before getting up and slipping her notebook and pen into her messenger bag. She walked over to the door, and threw a hesitant glance over her shoulder at me. She didn't have the expression of someone who was happy to be getting out of class; instead, she looked absolutely miserable, and a little scared.

I stared back at her, as if trying to mentally give her some words of encouragement, although why I would do that I had no idea. I guess it was because she suddenly looked so tiny and vulnerable and terrified that it was hard to remember that this was the girl who had sic-ed a whole bunch of football and basketball players on Carlos and me, and who had tried to have a personal relationship with my body.

By the time she reached the door, her shoulders were squared and her head was raised high. She followed Sarah out the classroom door and it swung shut behind them.

Wow...Any thoughts on Katie's coach? That's definitely gotta take some nerve, pulling a student out in the middle of a class, the same day she had detention.

I'll admit, James and Katie's scene in the chem lab ALMOST went very different then it actually did. Darn story plot lines anyway.

So...can the review button and I ask you to let me know what you thought? *Bats eyes hopefully*. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Oh, and one more thing, since I haven't done this lately: I'm on Twitter so that I can keep people updated about my fics - ScienceFantasy1, so, if you don't want to PM me, just look me up :)