(A/N): For some reason, this was really hard to write. But anyways, it's the next chapter! Thank you to oOo KitKat oOo, CudaChick7 and sing-it-out-loud for reviewing and voting! I still don't own Big Time Rush. I also didn't write Big Time Demos which is included in this chapter and the next one.
Don't forget to vote! And enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 11: Apologizes Are In Order
James, Kendall, Carlos and Logan were walking back to the Palm Woods, speechless at what just happened. All four stared straight ahead as they moved through the Palm Woods lobby, ignoring the greetings from the other people who in turn stared at the boys that were not acting like themselves. They made their way up to their apartment and collapsed on the couch, still not talking.
Mrs. Knight walked into the room, but she stopped when she noticed the boys. Looking them over, she immediately knew that something was wrong.
"What happened?" she asked them. They turned to stare at her.
"We might have gone too far," Kendall told her as though it explained everything.
Mrs. Knight sighed, sat down on the couch by them, and pressed, "Tell me everything." So, they did. Each boy got their chance to speak as they relayed their story over to Mrs. Knight. She didn't show any emotional change in her face, even when the boys finished. She continued to stare at them. "What were you thinking?"
"I said from the beginning that it was a bad idea," Logan reminded them.
"Give her time," Mrs. Knight suggested, "She'll forgive you." She gave them a small smile and left them.
They looked at each other, trying to decide if they should follow her instructions.
"We really have no choice, do we?" James piped up. The others agreed. "How long should we give her?"
"Until she comes to us," Kendall answered.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. The boys, immediately assuming that it was Katrina, leapt off the couch and ran to the door to open it. Standing in the doorway was a fuming Brandon. He didn't bother being invited in as he stomped inside before turning to the boys.
"You FOLLOWED her HOME?" Brandon yelled at them.
"Yeah," The boys responded.
Brandon stared at them, "I have so much damage control to do now! You four need to stay away from her! I can't believe I suggested that she make friends with you! You're going to push her over the limit! I hope that you go back to wherever you came from and NEVER COME BACK!" With that he stormed back out, leaving the boys feeling guilty.
Days passed for the boys as they kept their minds off of Katrina. Avoiding Katrina became easier for Carlos, Logan, Kendall and James when they found out that they were going home if their demos weren't picked by the record company. And then it became even easier when they were busy trying to please Mercedes Griffin so she would pick their demos. But when Mercedes crushed their CD with her foot and crushed their dreams as she left the apartment, thoughts of Katrina came crashing back in when they realized they would never be able to make up with her.
"The last thing she'll ever remember about us is when we barged into her home," Carlos whined.
"Does it matter?" Kendall asked, "We'll be in Minnesota anyways. We'll never see her again. We'll never see anyone here again."
"Do you really want to end it like this?" Logan wondered, "What if she regrets what she said?"
"I'll fix it," James told them, pulling out his phone. The others didn't bother stopping him, thinking that he couldn't make it worse. James sent Katrina a text and then continued, "She'll come find us after this."
Katrina was lying on the floor in her apartment, tears flowing down her cheeks. Since the boys had invaded her home, she had told Brandon about it, but still hadn't told him where she lived. Brandon had kept texting her, trying to get her to feel better. She would read them and then delete them, ignoring him as much as she could. That was why when her phone buzzed, she thought it was Brandon again. She picked it up and looked at it for a second before it registered that it was from James.
She sniffled and sat up before she looked at the text. It said: I know you're mad. We're sorry for everything. If you think you'll ever forgive us, please come visit today. We're leaving for Minnesota tomorrow. Our demos didn't get picked. Katrina looked down at the text and sighed. She closed her phone and looked at the time. Picking herself off the ground, she dusted herself off and left her apartment.
Brandon walked out of his house, fully intent on searching for Katrina at all of her hiding places. He didn't have to search for long though because as soon as he walked out of his house, he heard crying. Looking over at the burned down house next door, he found Katrina sitting on the porch of it, crying. He quickly made his way over to her, trying his best to soothe her.
"Everything's going to be fine," Brandon assured her.
"No," Katrina told him, "It's not. I shouldn't even be here."
"Katrina," Brandon began, using her full name for the first time in a long time. It got her attention. "There's a reason why you survived the accident. You're going to make a difference in this world. You belong here. Don't ever doubt that. I need my best friend." She gave him a small smile underneath her tears and hugged him.
When she pulled away, she spoke, "The guys were trying to help, weren't they?"
Brandon nodded, "I think so."
Katrina wiped away her tears, "I need you to take me to the Palm Woods. I need to see them."
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why not?"
"Because they're the reason I have to keep picking your pieces!"
"You're the one that told me to become friends with them in the first place!"
"Ugh, fine. But I'm staying with you."
"Whatever. Let's move." Katrina grabbed Brandon and practically dragged him to his car.
Logan, Kendall, James and Carlos were packing when they heard someone knock at the door. Kendall stopped and jogged over to answer it. He seemed shocked when he saw Katrina and Brandon standing in the doorway.
"Hey," Katrina waved at him. Kendall smiled at her.
"Just so you know," Brandon threatened, "I'm still against this." Kendall's smile disappeared.
Katrina stomped on his foot and he grabbed it in pain. She gave Kendall a small smile, "Do you mind if we come in?"
Kendall backed away from the doorway and gestured to the room. Katrina took this as a yes as she and Brandon walked in. They looked at the clothes spread around the couch area as the boys packed. Gustavo and Kelly were there too and everyone was watching the newcomers.
"What did I tell you?" James bragged, "I knew she'd come!"
"I'm not here because of any text," Katrina insisted. James raised an eyebrow at this and Katrina burst, "Okay. So, partly because of your text." James smiled and sat back in his seat. "And partly because I wanted to say I'm sorry. I'm still not used to anybody caring about me besides Brandon and I might have overreacted."
"Might?" The boys emphasized.
"Okay, I DID overreact," Katrina admitted. "But in my defense, you guys broke into my apartment."
"It was Kendall's idea," Carlos pointed at Kendall. Everyone turned to look at Kendall. He tried to give Katrina a smile to get him off the hook, but she stared at him with a frown and her arms crossed.
"Okay, I'm sorry too," Kendall told her.
"We're all sorry," Logan added, "We went too far."
She smiled at them all, "Apology accepted."
Before anyone else could speak up, Gustavo's voice rang out, "Have you all forgotten that YOUR demos didn't get picked, YOU'RE all going to back Minnesota, Katrina's NEVER going to see you again and I have to take over my dad's scooter business?"
"Way to kill the mood, Gustavo," James responded. It did cause a reality check for all of them though as the boys went back to their packing. Katrina and Brandon watched them as they sat down on the stools by the counter. Brandon looked happy and Katrina looked like she was thinking.
Gustavo went into the kitchen and came back with a pan of chocolate chip cookies right as Kelly told the boys, "You guys can hold your heads high. Most bands don't even make it almost halfway there."
"She's right," Gustavo agreed, munching on the cookies, "I am very very proud of you guys. Ahhh!" Katrina and Brandon jumped in their seats at Gustavo's scream. It stopped and everyone stared as he assured them, "I'm fine. I'm fine." Then, he suddenly yelled out, "SCOOTERS!" Causing Katrina and Brandon to jump again. "No, I'm not." Kelly grabbed the tray of cookies right before Gustavo fell backwards, right in front of Katrina and Brandon who stared at him with wide-eyes.
The others barely looked at him as Logan told the others, "She's probably on her way right now to tell her dad to pick Vampirah."
"Who?" Katrina looked up.
As if answering her question, the door burst open and there stood Mercedes Griffin. The boys all yelled in horror as Katrina and Brandon looked over at her with confused expressions on their faces.
"Look," Mercedes began, "I know we haven't all dated that long," Katrina looked to Brandon at this and mouthed, 'dated?' He shrugged his shoulders before they both looked back to Mercedes. "But I just wanted to come back and say, I'm sorry."
"Yeah," James responded, "You should be sorry. How could you pick them over me?" With that he gave one of his flashy smiles before it turned into a frown again.
"Because," Mercedes explained, "I never date anyone prettier than me."
James turned to his friends, a content look on his face, "I'm better now."
Katrina finally decided to speak up, "Whoa, what is going on?"
Mercedes looked at her, "Oh Katrina! I didn't know you knew these guys! Fruipy really enjoyed his mineral bath." All heads turned to stare at Katrina.
"That's great to hear," Katrina told her. "Now, what's going on?"
"How do you know so many famous people, but aren't famous yourself?" James asked Katrina.
"Because I don't sing or act," Katrina answered like it was obvious, "Is everyone going to keep me in the dark or is someone going to tell me WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Everyone jumped at this, not used to Katrina yelling.
Kelly became sympathetic to her, "Mercedes picks the demos and decided that she wanted to date Kendall, then Carlos, but when she wanted to date Logan, Kendall yelled at her so she said that she wouldn't pick their demos."
"Oh," Both Katrina and Brandon chimed and then looked at Mercedes along with the rest of the people in the room.
"And Kendall's right," Mercedes told everyone, "I'm a rich, spoiled bully who dresses hot and thinks your songs are great."
"So you're gonna pick Big Time Rush!" Carlos assumed.
"We're halfway there!" Gustavo yelled as he popped up off the ground.
Everyone in the room began cheering, until Mercedes called out, "Yeah, I don't choose the winning band."
Everyone stopped, stared and screamed, "WHAT?"
Kendall continued, "You're not the top secret music advisor?"
"See," Mercedes began, "My dad asked me to pick up the demos cause it was on my way, but I let you believe I choose the winning band because you're cute and," She began to take deep breaths before she started to, what sounded like, fake cry, "I love manipulating people."
"She's totally fake crying," Brandon whispered to Katrina. She nodded her head.
Gustavo went up to Mercedes and put an arm around her, saying, "Oh there there Mercedes. The boys forgive you. Now, how do the demos get picked?"
"Well," Mercedes explained, "First, Daddy looks at the demos to make sure that the covers are shiny. From there, the guy with white gloves takes them to an unmarked door at the end of a corridor. Finally, he places them on the desk of Daddy's top secret music expert, Lolo, the million dollar hit predicting super chimp."
"A MONKEY PICKS THE DEMOS!" Everyone but Mercedes screamed.
"No, a chimp," Mercedes told them like it made the most sense in the world.
"I could see Rina trusting a chimp like that," Brandon mentioned.
"HEY!" Katrina yelled, elbowing him in the stomach and causing him to fall to the ground in pain.
Mercedes continued, "And if he claps you're in, but if he makes a fart noise, you're out." Suddenly, she started to 'cry' again, "And sometimes I think Daddy loves Lolo more than me!"
"Yep," Brandon popped back up, "Definitely sounds like Rina."
"Do you want me to really hurt you?" Katrina asked him. At this, Brandon quickly rushed over to the other side of the group so Katrina couldn't reach him.
"There there Mercedes," Kendall tried comforting the 'crying' girl as he put his arm around her, "It's okay, don't cry. Now, do you have the security card to your dad's building?"
"Oh, please," Kelly responded, "What are you guys gonna do? Chimpnap Lolo and train him to love Big Time Rush?"
Katrina took one look at Kendall's face, ran over to Brandon and whispered, "Run."
"Why?" Brandon asked.
"Because they're going to pull us into their scheme!"
Brandon hesitated, but then said, "What kind of scheme?"
"I don't know, so let's get out of here!"
She pulled Brandon towards the door, but stopped when she heard Kendall's voice, "Katrina." She turned to see everyone staring at her. "We need your help."
"Nope," Katrina insisted, "No no no! There is NO WAY I'm going to help!"
Katrina came out of the bathroom, wearing a suit and hair slicked back into a ponytail. She looked over the group in front of her. Kelly was gone, having been ordered by Gustavo to go back to Rocque Records and wait. Mercedes somehow got away with wearing her normal outfit. Brandon was wearing a suit as well and he had white gloves in his pocket. James was wearing a security guard's outfit and had already threatened to 'arrest' Katrina twice. Logan was wearing a complete sheikh outfit. Kendall, Carlos and Gustavo were dressed completely in black as though dressing that way would stop them from standing out.
Everyone looked over once Katrina stepped out into the main part of the apartment. She glared at the guys, crossed her arms and said, "I can't believe you talked me into this."
"Great," Kendall began, "Katrina's dressed. Do we need to go over the plan one more time?"
"NO!" Everyone screamed at him.
"Fine," Kendall shrugged. "Then, MOVE OUT!" With that, the group grabbed some gear and left the apartment.
(A/N): What did Kendall plan? Hmmm. Anyways, I couldn't keep Katrina mad at them. She is what keeps this story running after all! Well, her interacting with Logan, James, Carlos and Kendall…
And here are the choices for the voting contest again:
1. A girl bully.
2. A boyfriend for Brandon.
3. A stray animal.
4. A boyfriend for Katrina.
Confused? Check out chapter 7 for more information! Until the next chapter, happy reading and don't forget to vote!