(A/N): Yay! Another update! I had to get this done tonight, so enjoy it! Anyways, thank you to Dreamer1992 (Good to know that you like Jamina. This chapter doesn't have really anything with them together though…) and Milkamoo97 (If he doesn't mess it up, he's going to surprise a LOT of people) for your reviews! I don't own Big Time Rush nor do I own the songs that I listed, but did not use the lyrics for. If that's confusing, you'll see what I mean later. So, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 44: Decoding The Past

Logan had the coded papers spread out across the table. His hair was sticking up like a mad scientist as he tried to figure out the code. Kendall, Carlos and James were sitting on the couch, watching TV. They had given up on trying to figure out the code long ago. Plus, they had assumed that Logan could figure it out better than they could. But, Logan was having trouble. He would be able to decode a few words, but then the next line would be gibberish and he'd have to start over.

"I don't get it," Logan spoke up, "This thing is unsolvable! I give up!" He slumped down in his chair right as Katie walked into the apartment. She raised an eyebrow at the paper covered table.

"Aren't we done with school?" Katie asked. "What are you working on?"

"I'm trying to decode this," Logan replied. "But nothing seems to be working!"

Katie picked a sheet of paper off the table. It was one of the ones that Logan had written on. She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked it over.

"Oh, I got this," Katie told him causing the three boys on the couch to look over.

"Wait, what?" Logan seemed confused, "How could you figure this out when I couldn't?"

"You assumed that the entire paper is just one code," Katie explained, "Notice how it's divided up into paragraphs? Each paragraph is a different code. That's why it seemed confusing."

Logan grabbed the paper from Katie and looked it over, "That's it! Thanks, Katie!"

"What's this for anyways?" Katie asked.

"These are the last clues that Evan left behind," Kendall responded as he, James and Carlos rejoined the group. "We think it might have something to do with where he went."

"Does Katrina know about this?"

"No," the four boys replied.

"Then, I don't know anything," Katie told them before she left for her room.

"Just give me a few minutes and I should have the message decoded," Logan cracked his fingers before he grabbed his pencil and began working on the papers. Carlos, James and Kendall looked at each other, shrugged and then went back to watch TV, leaving Logan to do what he does best.

"This is perfect," Katrina commented on the video the girls were watching. They were reviewing their work one last time before they posted it.

"I really liked how you advised them about asking out through text message," Jo responded.

"'Girls love being treated special,'" Katrina began quoting her advice, "'So, when you ask a girl out to something as important as a dance, don't do it through text message. She will assume that you are lazy or are sending that message to tons of other girls. Then, she won't feel special and she'll reject you.'" The girls laughed. "I liked your advice."

"'Even if you're dating someone,'" Jo remembered her words, "'You should still ask her. Why would you do that? Well, otherwise she'll assume that you don't like her or that you're cheating on her with some other girl and that's who you're bringing to the dance.'"

"I liked Camille's joint one with Katrina," Stephanie mentioned.

"'Getting a wingman is okay,'" Katrina stared, "'But if you're the wingman, make sure that you don't accidently ask out a whole bunch of girls or else you'll end up with none for yourself.'"

"'And if you're the one getting advice,'" Camille went on, "'Make sure to keep some common sense. Don't hit girls with flying discs… Or yell at them. It scares us.'" The girls laughed again.

"Oh, the look on your face was priceless," Jo laughed.

"Boys are so stupid," Katrina spoke up.

"Especially these boys," Stephanie added. The others nodded their heads. "So, I'm guessing we agree that this can be posted now?" They nodded again and Stephanie hit the submit button.

"While we're waiting for the response, why don't we go shopping?" Camille suggested, "I need some new items for my costume collection." Katrina, Jo and Stephanie looked at each other before they shrugged. The girls left Stephanie's apartment to head over to the mall.

"And done," Logan put his pencil down. James, Carlos and Kendall quickly gathered around Logan.

Kendall picked up one of the pieces of paper and looked confused, "This doesn't make sense. None of these are directions as to how to open that box."

"And none of these tell us where Evan is," James added.

"Are we back to the drawing board?" Carlos asked.

"I think that this is a message of some sort," Logan mentioned, "I just don't know what it means. Some of the paragraphs repeat, like they're song lyrics."

"Maybe that's what they are then," James suggested. "Katrina's family was so absorbed in fame that maybe these songs have some sort of meaning to them."

"Are they even songs though?" Kendall seemed doubtful.

"Let's look at the words," Logan grabbed a piece of paper and looked it over, "This one, I don't recognize."

"But that doesn't mean it's not a song," Carlos pointed out. "There are songs out there that we don't know."

"I recognize this one," Kendall spoke up. The others looked at him. "Don't you remember when we went through every single one of All Time Low's songs to find one that would cheer up Katrina, but then we just picked something from a different band?"

"Yeah," the other three nodded.

"This is a song from All Time Low," Kendall told them. "Heroes to be exact."

"So, these songs are probably from artists that Katrina would know," Carlos realized, "Does this mean that we should tell her?"

"No," Kendall insisted, "If she finds out we've been keeping this secret from her, she'll be mad."

"And then she'll dump me," James added.

"I say we should tell her," Logan suggested. "How else would we find out who these songs are by and what they mean to Evan?" James glared at Logan.

"There is someone else we could ask," Kendall reminded them. The other three stared at him.

"I thought I told you guys that I didn't want any part of this," Brandon mentioned. He was sitting behind the front desk at Penny's Pet Care. Tim was gone at class. James, Carlos, Logan and Kendall were standing in front of it. They had placed the papers containing the song lyrics on the desk.

"We just need to ask you if any of these songs meant anything to Evan," Kendall assured him. "Then, we'll be out of your way."

"Why don't you ask Katrina?" Brandon delayed looking at the papers. "She'd probably know more than I would."

"We can't ask Katrina," James told him, "She'll get mad and then she'll break up with me."

"Wait, what?" Brandon looked confused, "You're dating Katrina?"

"Sort of," Kendall added. "According to Katrina, he's on probation." James looked down at his feet at this reminder.

Brandon sighed, "Fine, I'll help. It's just as well anyways. I found a sheet of paper you left in the box. Here." He dug around in his pocket before he pulled out a crumpled up sheet of paper. He held it out to Logan. "It still needs to be decoded."

Logan looked down at the paper. It was different than the others. All this one had on it was a short sentence and 18 short dashes underneath it. Logan furrowed his eyebrows, "Okay, just give me a few minutes and I'll have this decoded." He grabbed a pencil from the desk and went over to sit on one of the armchairs.

"So, what about these songs?" Carlos asked. "Are there any that mean something to Evan?"

"Some of these mean something to Evan," Brandon finally looked through the papers. "But this makes no sense."

"What do you mean?" James looked confused.

"I mean, that's no pattern to these songs," Brandon explained. "Some of these are the music that Katrina likes, alternative or rock, and some are the type of music that Evan likes, country, and some others are the songs that I like, pop. I can tell you this song here," Brandon pointed to one of the papers, "Is My Wish by Rascal Flatts which was Evan's and Katrina's song." When the guys looked confused, he went on, "Yes, they had songs for each other. It was Katrina's idea. She had a song for each of her family members. Another thing that kept them close. It was weird in my opinion."

"Why is she so attached to music anyways?" Carlos asked.

"Remember how big Katrina's family was?" Brandon mentioned, "Well, the best way to get someone's attention in that house was to lock yourself in your room and play music. Katrina's and Evan's parents got to be experts at figuring out what their children were feeling just based on what music they chose."

"Wouldn't that just add extra noise?" James realized.

"Yeah, but when one of the Wolffs couldn't get the attention of their mom and dad, they would turn up their music louder and louder until it was too loud to ignore," Brandon went on.

"That must have been annoying for you as their neighbor," Kendall pointed out.

"Not really," Brandon admitted, "The whole neighborhood is filled with people in the entertainment industry so we're used to it. Anyways, this song here," Brandon pointed to another paper, "Is one of Evan's favorite songs, Hell On The Heart by Eric Church. And this one," Brandon picked up another paper. "Is Katrina's absolute favorite song that's not something from All Time Low."

"What's that?" James pulled the paper from Brandon's hand and studied it.

"Love Gone Mad by Stars Go Dim," Brandon told him. James made the motion to put the paper in his pocket when Kendall pulled it out of his hand and placed it back on the desk. "This one here, Raise Your Glass by P!nk, is one of my favorite songs. This song, Hunt Hunt Hunt is by There For Tomorrow which is Katrina's second favorite band. This one, oh I forgot about this song!" Brandon started laughing at a memory.

"What song is that?" Carlos asked.

"Zombies Ate My Neighbors by Single File," Brandon laughed, "The three of us made a music video for this song. I think I've still got it on my computer. I'm going to have to take a look at it when I get home now." He cleared his throat before continuing to name the songs, "Usher's song, Superstar I sang for a talent show and then got pelted with tomatoes. I remember that Katrina and Evan got back at the guys that did that. They were in gym class with Evan so while Katrina distracted them by, well, expressing her talent for being a model, Evan went into the locker room before gym and stole their gym clothes. They got detention for not changing."

"Serves them right," Kendall noted. "What about the rest of the songs?"

"Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls, Katrina played that in her room after Evan scared away her first date to homecoming before they had even left," Brandon mentioned. "In fact, he did that by playing this song, Welcome To The Family by Little Big Town. I really wish that I had seen the look on that guy's face. Katrina never counted that as a date because they never got to leave the house." James smirked at this knowledge. "Katrina sang this song, Hey Monday's Hurricane Streets, for a talent show with Evan on drums, me on bass and her on guitar."

"Katrina can play guitar?" the four guys seemed confused.

"Yeah," Brandon confirmed, "All of them got lessons on musical instruments. It was how they relaxed."

"Oh, cause that's a great way to relax," Kendall spoke sarcastically, "Learning even more things."

"It was for them," Brandon shrugged, "Anyways, we won that talent show and they asked us to do another song, so Katrina sang," Brandon looked through the papers before he pointed at one, "This song, Think Like A Man by Orianthi. Oh, I didn't see this one. You remember how Katrina's homecoming date abandoned her because of Evan? Well, when she wouldn't come out of her room afterward, Evan played this song, Clumsy Little Heart by Every Avenue. She forgave him instantly. This song, Smile by Uncle Kracker, Katrina had told me that this was her song for me. And this one," Brandon started to laugh again, "I remember this one. When the whole family was younger, they did a huge family number to this song, *NSYNC's Pop, and video-taped it."

"Embarrassing home movies," Carlos commented, "Even celebrities have them." The others nodded.

"Yep, and this one, oh this one was memorable," Brandon continued, "Katrina really showed her versatility with this one, since it is a country song. Taylor Swift's Better Than Revenge. This happened when Katrina found out that the captain of the cheerleading squad, who was one of Katrina's friends, at her old school started going out with Katrina's crush. So, Katrina decided to make a scene at lunch one day. She brought her guitar to lunch, jumped onto one of the tables, right in front this girl, and played and sang the song. And here's a song from All Time Low, Katrina's favorite band." Brandon picked up the last sheet of paper, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked it over. "This one's odd."

Logan looked up from decoding the paper, "What's so odd about it?"

"There's no meaning behind this one," Brandon responded, "I know the song, Pull Myself Together by The Rocket Summer, but there's no sentimental value to it that I know at least. I'm surprised that it's here. This type of music is more of Katrina's type, not Evan's, so it's weird."

"Okay, so, none of that helps us," Kendall mentioned. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"I've got this one decoded," Logan spoke up. James, Carlos and Kendall looked over at him. "It doesn't have instructions for the box." The boys seemed depressed about this. "But, it's not another lyric thing."

"Then what is it?" James asked.

"It's barely a sentence," Logan told them, "It says, 'Keep the artists in mind.'"

"What the hell does that mean?" Kendall seemed confused.

"I'm not sure," Logan looked distressed.

"Maybe Katrina would know?" Carlos suggested.

"No," James insisted, "We are not asking Katrina. She'll dump me."

"Let's just go back to the Palm Woods and figure things out there," Kendall decided. The boys said their goodbyes to Brandon before they got into the elevator, on their way to the Palm Woods.

Katrina, Camille, Jo and Stephanie were laughing as they walked into Stephanie's apartment. Camille had so many bags on her arm that Katrina, who hadn't bought anything, had to carry some.

"Maybe we should have dropped your stuff off at your apartment first," Katrina suggested.

"Stephanie insisted that we check our blog," Camille reminded her.

"I want to see how many hits we got!" Stephanie told them, "Hopefully, we got a lot since I used Katrina as one of the searchable names."

"But, this isn't just mine," Katrina mentioned.

"Yeah, but you're the famous one," Jo added. "We're more likely to get hits when your name is there."

"But –" Katrina started.

"Dad!" Stephanie exclaimed, causing Katrina to stop talking as she, Jo and Camille turned to stare at Mr. King. "What's going on? Why aren't you at work?"

"I got this in the mail," Mr. King held up a large envelope, "Why don't you read the letter?" Stephanie approached him and took the envelope. She opened it and took the letter out. Glancing it over, the girls watched as Stephanie began to get a smile on her face.

"I've been accepted for that filmmaking summer camp I applied to?" Stephanie spoke excitedly, almost bouncing on her feet. "Seriously?"

"Yep and there's this," Mr. King handed Stephanie another envelope. Stephanie hurriedly opened it to pull out another sheet of paper.

"And I got accepted at that film school in New York?" Stephanie exclaimed. Suddenly, her smile went away, "I'm leaving for New York."

"Yeah, we leave tomorrow," Mr. King informed her, "I've already started packing. You should do the same. Now, if you girls will excuse me, I have to send in my letter of resignation at work." With that said, he left the apartment.

Stephanie turned to look at her shocked friends, "What do I do?"

"Go to New York," Jo advised. "It's your dream."

"But what about our advice blog?" Stephanie reminded them.

Camille waved it off, "We only did that because you wanted to direct something."

"And what about you girls, the guys and all the friends that I've made here," Stephanie kept making excuses.

"We'll keep in contact," Katrina assured her. "And I wish I was in your position."

"What are you talking about?" Stephanie asked.

"Well, sort of," Katrina began explaining, "I've always wanted to go to New York. It's the modeling capital of America. I would give anything to go there."

"I guess I better start packing then," Stephanie decided. "Will you girls come say goodbye to me tomorrow?"

"Of course we will," Jo nodded her head along with Camille and Katrina.

"And I'll let the guys know so they'll be there too," Katrina added.

"Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow!" Stephanie waved to them as she headed for her room. Katrina, Jo and Camille looked at each other before they left the apartment.

"What should we do now?" Camille asked.

"Can we drop off the bags first?" Katrina mentioned. "It feels like you bought bricks." Camille and Jo laughed but agreed as the trio headed for the elevator.

After dropping off the bags, Katrina, Jo and Camille headed for the park because they couldn't think of anything else to do.

"I think the guys are hiding something from me," Katrina admitted.

"Well, I haven't heard about anything that they would keep from you," Jo spoke up.

"Neither have I," Camille added.

"It's so annoying," Katrina went on, "There's this nagging feeling whenever I'm around them." She groaned, but then fell silent.

"So," Camille picked up the conversation. "Are you and James finally official?"

Katrina hesitated, but then responded, "Sort of." When the other two looked confused, Katrina went on, "He's on probation. And he's already got one strike."

"He really does like you," Jo mentioned, "I can tell by the way he stares at you. It's like no other girl is around."

Katrina stopped walking in the middle of the sidewalk. Jo and Camille continued for a second before they stopped and turned to look at Katrina.

"He really looks at me like that?" Katrina seemed surprised, "I never noticed." A small smile appeared on her face.

"Why did you start going out with him then?" Camille asked.

"Well," Katrina began.

Suddenly, the girls heard someone yell from behind Katrina, "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Camille and Jo dived out of the way, but Katrina turned just in time to be knocked over by a skateboarder. The boy quickly got up to his feet, picked his skateboard up and looked down at Katrina, "Whoa, you're Katrina Wolff!" He held out his hand. She took it and he helped her to her feet. "Is it true that you're dating that boy from that band?" Katrina raised her eyebrows, but nodded. "Too bad. Anyways, sorry for running into you." The boy ran off right as Jo and Camille walked up to Katrina.

"You're very accident-prone," Jo commented.

"Believe me, I know," Katrina told her. "Is it just me or is the world getting blurry?" Camille and Jo shared a worried glance right as Katrina fell over, passing out. The two standing girls quickly knelt down beside her.

"Call an ambulance and then the guys," Jo instructed Camille. "And do you have any idea why she fainted?"

"She probably just hit her head too hard," Camille reasoned as she looked over Katrina. "Or she's bleeding from her side."

"Wait, what?" Jo quickly joined Camille on the other side of Katrina and noticed that Camille was right. Blood was soaking though Katrina's shirt and there was a large piece of glass that was sticking in her side. "Aw crap."

Camille now had her phone to her ear, "Hello, 911? We need some help."

(A/N): CLIFFHANGER! Yes, I know I'm evil. So, what's going to happen at the hospital? How are the guys going to react to Katrina getting hurt AGAIN? And Stephanie's leaving. How's that going to affect Carlos since that means he'll be the only one without a girlfriend? The guys are making progress on their clues and have learned some things about Katrina's past along the way. Are they going to be able to use the clues to figure out what happened to Evan? What's with the songs anyways? You'll have to wait to find out! Until then, review and happy reading!