(A/N): I FINALLY finished the episode here! Thank you to all of my lovely readers, especially to oOo KitKat oOo for sending me that message! Here's the next chapter! I don't own Big Time Rush which means that there is no way that I'd own the show's episode, Big Time Mansion, so please don't sue.
Chapter 4: Mom to the Rescue
Carlos, Kendall and James were sitting on the steps to the living room while Katrina paced back and forth in front of them, muttering things to herself. With her hair knotted up, her shirt torn and scratches all along the exposed skin on her face, legs and arms, she looked like she had gone crazy. There was a twitch in her eye whenever she stopped and looked at one of the boys, before she would mumble, "Not yet," and continue her pacing. Carlos was eating popcorn and James was leaning back on his hands.
Kendall looked around the trashed mansion, "Oh, we are horrible mansionsitters." As soon as he finished, his phone went off indicating he had a text. He pulled it out and looked, "Oh, good news!" Katrina stopped her pacing as she stared, "Gustavo and Kelly are coming back early."
James screamed and Katrina fell to her knees, yelling, "WHAT?"
At this moment, Logan came running into view with a laptop, "Okay, don't worry! I can fix this!" Katrina scrambled onto her feet as she and Logan joined the three boys on the steps.
"Yes!" James cheered as the five teenagers crowded around the laptop. "I knew the smart one would come through! What've you got?"
Logan explained, "There's a four AM flight to Bolivia. We get there, change our names, raise alpacas." Kendall and James hung their heads while Carlos nodded in agreement.
"You know," Katrina considered it, "There is a lot of money in alpacas."
"Not. Helping." James told her.
They were about to start arguing again, when Kendall spoke up, "Yeah. I have a better idea." He pulled out his phone again and began walking away.
"You're going to call a cleaning service!" Carlos assumed.
"Uh," James chimed in, "A statue repairman?"
"And," Logan added, "One of those places that gets the cats out of the alligators."
"And," Katrina suggested, "A place to get replacement exotic fish."
Kendall sighed, "All of the above."
Mrs. Knight and Katie came walking into the mansion to cheers from the five teenagers. Kendall stepped forward, "Okay, Mom. Here's the sit-"
"Zip it," Mrs. Knight interrupted him as she walked further into the mansion, "I'm going to need three liters of club soda, a sewing kit, a bucket of vinegar, bleach and get on the phone and find a place that delivers super turbo bonding glue and semi-gloss white paint." She turned to face the teens.
"Got it," All five of them told her.
Carlos put his helmet on his head before he remembered, "Wait. What about Gustavo's cat?" Mrs. Knight pulled out a box of cat food, shook it and sprinkled it on the floor. The cat showed up and began eating as the teenagers cheered.
"That's a cat?" Katie pointed at the cat, disbelief in her voice.
The group heard him meow as Katrina stepped forward, "And what about Gustavo's exotic fish?"
Mrs. Knight pulled out a business card and handed it to Katrina, "This is where Gustavo got the fish before. His past orders and card is on record there. All you have to do is call."
"Thank you, Mrs. Knight," Katrina gave a genuine smile. The boys and even Katie smiled at the scene.
"What are you all staring at?" Mrs. Knight broke the stares. "We're gonna be here all night! Go! Go go go!" All the teens ran off to their jobs, Katrina pulling out her phone to dial the number on the card.
"That's right!" Katie helped, "Move it!"
"You too!" Mrs. Knight turned to Katie, "Go!"
The doorbell rang and Katrina put down the pillow that she had been sewing to answer the door. She ran past Kendall sweeping, Logan fixing a potted statue and Mrs. Knight sewing up the curtains before she reached the door. She opened it to reveal a man holding a box. He looked into the mansion, seeming impressed by the damage.
"Wow," the delivery guy commented, "That must have been some party."
Katrina grabbed the box out of his hands, slapped a five dollar bill into one of them as a tip and, using her foot, shut the door on his face. "You don't know the half of it," she mumbled as she ran upstairs with the box. Running into the second kitchen where the fish tank was, she ran past Carlos who was on the floor, cleaning up the water that had been spilled when the cat had grabbed the fish out of the tank. Almost slipping on said water, she reached the tank and placed the box on a nearby cabinet.
"Did you need help?" she heard Carlos behind her.
"Yeah," Katrina admitted, "Can you fill the tank with water from the sink?" She ripped the tape off the top of the box and opened it, revealing bags of colorful fish. Picking up the first bag, Katrina turned around to find Carlos trying to attach a hose to the faucet. The other end was already in the fish tank. She shook her head, "Try using a cup, Carlos."
"This is faster."
"Yes, but it will also make more of a mess."
"…Good point."
Katrina shook her head again as she grabbed a step ladder so she could reach the top of the tall fish tank. A silence settled between the duo as they each went back and forth, filling the tank with water and fish.
Suddenly, Carlos spoke, "Why are you so sad?" The girl tensed for a second, but then continued with her job, pretending that she didn't hear him. When she didn't answer, Carlos repeated his question only to be greeted with silence. When she had put the last fish in the tank she got off the ladder and turned around to find Carlos standing in her way. Katrina tried to side-step him, but he kept blocking her. Getting fed up, she tried turning around to leave that way, but Carlos ran over and blocked her again. She groaned and looked up at the ceiling, refusing to make eye contact with the Latino. Finally, he grabbed her head and made her look at him as he asked, "What's wrong? Why do you always seem so sad and serious?"
Katrina's eyes went wide as she looked into his chocolate brown ones. They reminded her of a puppy dog. Her stern blue eyes softened as she responded, "I-It's my parents."
Carlos let her go, knowing she wouldn't try to escape him anymore, "So, you have strict parents or something?"
Katrina twitched, her eyes wandering away from him again as they looked everywhere in the room but at the boy, "Look. I don't usually talk to people much. Can we just drop it?"
Carlos opened his mouth to say something when Katie came into the room. Both teens turned to look at her. The little brunette glared at Katrina for a second, before she told the two, "Stop talking and get back to cleaning." Katrina grabbed the now empty box and left the room, Carlos watching her the entire time. He sighed before going back to his work. Katie looked at him with an eyebrow raised before she restarted her cleaning too.
"Alright!" Mrs. Knight called out as she walked into the entrance area. "Looking good guys." She watched as Kendall tossed Katrina some pajamas before she ran from the room to change. Pointing at the statue being held together by James and Carlos, Mrs. Knight continued, "And that glue will be dry in ten, nine –"
"Big foot's on the campground," Logan told the group, "Repeat, big foot's on the campground!"
"Mom…" Kendall warned.
"Five seconds and the bond will hold!" She called out right as Katrina ran back in, going straight for the corner couch. Somehow, she had gotten her previous rat's nest of hair into an untangled ponytail. James looked at her hair, impressed for a second, before looking worried again about the situation.
"He's coming up the steps!" Logan looked like he was going to have a heart attack.
Katie grabbed her mom's arm, looking at the watch on her wrist, "Three, two, one, let's roll." She and Mrs. Knight ran towards the back door as James and Carlos let go of the statue. The two boys and Logan joined Katrina on the corner couch, but Kendall ran towards his mom.
"Mom!" He called out and Mrs. Knight looked up. "Thanks." Mrs. Knight blew him a kiss as Katie pulled her away. Katrina was watching the scene and had pressed her hand up against her chest, but none of the boys seemed to notice that or the water building up in her eyes. Kendall threw the boys' pajamas at his friends and dived into the group, squishing a scowling Katrina against a happy James. She closed her eyes tightly as the boys changed, not opening them again until she heard Kendall say, "Oh look who's here!"
Katrina and the boys yawned and stretched as James pointed out the obvious, "It's Gustavo and Kelly!"
"We slept here cause we didn't want to touch anything," Logan told the two adults. Katrina nodded her head at his statement, even giving them a small smile.
"Yeah," Carlos agreed, "We're not just pretending." Katrina's smile dropped as Logan and James smacked Carlos, "Ow!"
"Silence!" Gustavo commanded and the five teenagers stared at him. He held out his hands and called out, "Monty!" His cat jumped into his arms and the boys began complimenting said cat. "And I trust that all my other pets are safe in their cages, right?" Katrina gave him two thumbs up, sporting another small smile on her face.
"We'd love to stay and chat," Kendall began as he got up before Gustavo could ask any more questions, the others doing the same thing, "But, we gotta go."
Kendall, James, Logan, Carlos and Katrina walked quickly to the door, muttering thank yous and good-byes and Katrina included, "You can send my check in the mail."
"Stop!" Gustavo spoke. The teens froze and turned on their heels to stare at Gustavo. "There's something I need to say."
"Well," Kendall started to come up with a way out, "You can say something tomorrow." The others chanted their agreement as they headed for the door again.
"Guys!" Kelly called out, causing them to stop again, "This is important."
The boys walked back, but Katrina stayed where she was, "Does this have anything to do with me?"
Gustavo stayed quiet for a second before responding, "No."
"Then, can I go?"
"Do you want to get paid?"
"Yes."
"Then, NO!" Katrina flinched at his outburst, but walked over to join the boys who smirked at her. She scowled at them before all heads turned to Gustavo.
"We've been working together for a month now," Gustavo began his speech, "And, I just wanted to say, although we've had our ups and downs, the truth is, I luh-" All five teenagers leaned in. "I luh-" They all stared at him, confusion etched on their faces. Kelly nudged Gustavo and he glanced at her before focusing on the guys, "I like you." Suddenly, there was a breaking sound and the statue fell apart, hitting Gustavo before it crashed to the ground.
"And we like you too," Kendall told him before turning to the group, "RUN!"
All the boys ran for the door, but Katrina held back for a second to say, "Just send the check in the mail," before laughing nervously and following the boys.
Carlos ran back with the orange cat in his arms, giving it to Kelly, "Here, have a cat!"
He ran past a returning James, who yelled out, "Thanks for the pudding! See ya!"
They heard Gustavo yell "ASPRIN! ASPRIN! I NEED ASPRIN!"
Logan suddenly gasped and turned to Kendall, "Alligator!"
Kendall's eyes went wide before running back to the open doorway to say, "Oh! And by the way, you might not want to go in the bathroom-" He was interrupted by growling and Gustavo's screaming coming from the bathroom. He looked over to see Gustavo trying to get out of the bathroom, but being held back by the alligator. Realizing the best thing to do was run, that's what he did. He ran out of the doorway, down the driveway and into his mom's rental van with everyone else. They closed the door, Mrs. Knight put her foot on the gas and they zoomed out of Gustavo's reach.
Silence filled the van as they looked at each other for a second and then began to cheer. They cheered for most of the ride until sleep deprivation caught up with the teens.
"So," Mrs. Knight didn't seem to be affected by the all-nighter yet. "Where do you live Katrina? I can drop you off there." The boys and Katie turned to look at the tired girl. Mrs. Knight's words seemed to wake her up though.
"Um," Katrina fiddled with her fingers, nervously looking for a way out of the conversation, "I don't want to be any trouble. I can just walk home from the Palm Woods."
"It's no trouble at all," Mrs. Knight continued to press the issue, "And you're in no condition to be walking home anyways."
"I'll be fine," Katrina insisted. Her words might have convinced them if she hadn't yawned right afterward. She groaned at her weakness, "Okay. I live on Baker Avenue." Mrs. Knight nodded her head at this and then focused on the road ahead.
An awkward silence settled in before Kendall decided to break it, "Katrina, did you want to hang out tomorrow? We can all get to know each other better." Carlos, Logan and James nodded their heads in agreement, watching Katrina. Katie was also watching, but with narrowed eyes.
"Can't, I've got work." Katrina responded, not even bothering to look away from the window.
"Well, then how about-"
"Nope."
"But-"
"Busy."
"Look-"
"Sorry."
"JUST LET HIM FINISH!" Katie yelled at the girl. Katrina jumped in her seat and turned to look at Katie. She was glaring.
"Listen, I'm sorry," Katrina addressed the boys, "But I think it's best if we don't hang out. I'm probably not going to get a paycheck from watching Gustavo's pets and I really need the money. So, I'm going to need to work extra hard to make up for it which means that I'll have no time to do anything else. I'm sorry." She turned to look back out the window.
"What do you mean when you said you needed the money?" Logan asked. Katrina didn't respond. No matter what questions the boys asked, Katrina wouldn't speak. Finally, the entire van settled into an awkward silence again, no one looking at anyone else.
Mrs. Knight broke the silence when she turned down Baker Avenue, "Which house is yours?"
"The one to the right of the house that burned down," Katrina's voice was a little higher than normal. Mrs. Knight looked at her in the rearview mirror for a second before nodding and keeping her eyes on the road.
The houses on the street seemed to contradict Katrina's money statement earlier. They were huge, multi-million dollar houses that very few people who weren't celebrities could afford. Questions ran through the boys' minds that they didn't bother voicing cause they knew there would be no answer. Mrs. Knight found the house and drove up the driveway.
As soon as the van stopped, Katrina opened the door. She told Mrs. Knight, "Thank you," before shutting the door, stepping away, waving at them and waiting for them to leave.
Mrs. Knight rolled down the window, "I want to make sure you get in safely." Katrina groaned, rolled her eyes and headed for the front door. They all watched in confusion as she knocked.
"Who knocks on their own front door?" Katie asked rhetorically. The others hushed her though when it was answered by an African American boy who, although much taller and skinnier than Katrina, looked to be around the same age as the pale girl in front of him. They didn't look related at all.
The boy seemed surprised to see Katrina and they argued a bit. Finally, the boy sighed and stepped back to let her though the door. The door closed after her, but the group continued to stare.
"Something seems wrong," Mrs. Knight commented, finding the kids agreed with her. "We should go after her." The boys agreed with her on this, but Katie stayed silent. However, instead of marching up to the front door and demanding an explanation, Mrs. Knight took the van out of park, backed out of the driveway and drove off towards the Palm Woods. Katie and the boys all turned around to watch the house though the rear window.
They didn't have to watch long to see something odd. Katrina had walked out of the house, stared for a second at the house that was burned down and then walked down the street in the opposite direction they were going in.
"Did you see that?" James noted.
"Yep," Mrs. Knight spoke causing everyone to turn frontwards again.
"Well, are we going to follow her to find out what's going on?" Kendall asked.
"Nope." When Mrs. Knight gave her answer, the others, even Katie, complained. Mrs. Knight cut them off, "Everyone deserves to have secrets. She'll open up eventually." The boys looked back again, but couldn't see the retreating figure anymore. They turned back to the front and the van stayed silent until they reached the Palm Woods.
(A/N): Hmmm. Katrina is hiding a lot, isn't she? What do you think she's hiding? Can she really keep away from Big Time Rush? They have a tendency to pull people in, don't they? Anyways, expect a lot of updates cause we just found out that my sister and I have mono. So, we're both confined to our house. I'll be working on this and a new story that I came up with to keep occupied. I'm not going to be posting the new story for a while though. I've got a lot of kinks to work out in it. Reviews on this will make me work more on this one than that one! So, until the next chapter, happy reading!