4.02; scandal
After making it on Britains Most Wanted list, Emily didn't think Big Time Rush could get press worse than that. But that was before Kendall got Swifted.
Gustavo was giving the boys a run down about how more than ever they needed to avoid bad press. Humming the song she wrote after the events of the invasion, Emily crossed through the booth, down the steps into the main rehearsal room.
"So throw your hands in the air," she mumbled. "Come on and make this count. It's only you and me– Where are your clothes?" Emily shrieked, dropping her music sheets.
Standing in front of her, Gustavo shrieked in horror as well, seeing all four boys without clothes, standing behind music stands. Disturbing as it was to see her friends so exposed, her boyfriend didn't look anything short of hot.
"What? We can't go jogging anymore?" Kendall retorted, moving around the music stand to grab his shirt, revealing all the guys had short running shorts on.
"I want you guys to think of ways to get us good press and back to the top!" Gustavo told them, as Emily disappointedly watching James put his shirt on. At least it showed his arms.
"How about James Diamond duets with Taylor Swift?" The boy suggested.
Gustavo snapped at him, "The last thing BTR needs right now is to get Swifted."
"Swifted?" Carlos repeated. "What is Swifted?"
"It's what people call exposing breakup songs coined after Taylor Swift's trademark of the best break up songs in history," Emily explained. She looked to James, "I listened to a lot of a them because of you."
James smiled, "Aw. Thank you."
"Basically the song tells the entire world you're a total jerkface," Logan told Carlos.
"Which will ruin your sweet and cute reputation and destroy the band!" Gustavo said.
"Got it. No jogging, no Taylor Swift, and no scandals," James repeated.
Kelly tumbled into the room, her hair flying in her eyes as she breathlessly attempted to deliver the news. "Guys. Your old friend, Lucy Stone, just came out with her first CD and everyone is raving about it."
Emily grinned, taking the CD from Kelly, examining the plastic with Lucy and her guitar on the cover. "Amazing," Emily gushed.
"Yeah, and you should hear her new single: You Dumped Me For Her." All eyes turned to Kelly, smiles gone. "It's about how Kendall dumped Lucy for Jo and is a total jerkface."
"Oh, no. I've been Swifted," Kendall realized.
As silence washed over the room, Emily quietly mumbled, "Well, is it wrong if we listen to it or...?"
"I want to hear it," Gustavo agreed. "Dogs, put on real clothes."
The boys rapidly dressed themselves, meeting Kelly, Gustavo, and Emily in the booth as the song ran back into the second chorus of the song.
"You dumped me for her. You gave me your word," Lucy sang. Kendall frantically stared at the lyrics on the inside flier in shock as the song carried on. Emily had excused herself to the back where no one could see her subtly rocking out. It wasn't a good situation, but it was a good song.
"You kissed me in an elevator. Then you said see you later. How could you do that to me?" Emily quietly sang in the back, bouncing. Gustavo cut the music, leaving her voice echoing in the room. She froze seeing the team shaking their heads at her in annoyance.
"Em!" Kendall cried, offended.
"It's a good song," she shrugged.
"Okay, but that song could be about anyone," Carlos said trying to defuse the panic.
"Swifted? Really?" Gustavo spun in the chair, glaring at Kendall. "You couldn't go out and punch old ladies instead?"
Emily winced, exchanging a shake of the head with Logan, "That's not better, I promise you."
"I'm telling you! The things she said about me in this song didn't happen," Kendall said.
"Okay, here's what happened," Logan said. "Whatever people think happened."
"This song is gonna be huge," Gustavo told the teens. "And if people think that you dumped America's new pop princess, your fans are gonna dump you!"
"Okay, we need to go find Lucy right now and make sure she says the song is not about Kendall," James said, his hands on Kendall's shoulders.
Kelly hummed, tapping away on her tablet, "According to this, she's at Colossal Studios today casting for her new music video: Elevator Kisses."
The group all ran out of the booth into the lobby, ready to split up to conquer the scandal when Kelly stopped them all eyeing the security footage.
"Stop!" She cried. "E! News Tv, web, and instant mobile updating crews."
"How'd they get here so fast?" Carlos gasped.
"Because they're the fastest entertainment news team in the world and I hate them!" Gustavo shouted. He turned to Kendall, "And I don't want you talking to them until you talk to Lucy. Take the backdoor."
James stepped up, offering his services, "I'll go with him. Cause I really wanna make out with my girlfriend."
Emily rolled her eyes, "You mean you can help fight off the press," she corrected him.
"Exactly," he nodded, pulling Kendall back as the three ran out the lobby into the back.
"Hey," Emily said, nudging James. "We could make out in the elevator the break up for an hour so I can really jam to Lucy's song."
Kendall gasped, shouting in betrayal while James frowned. "What do I get out of this?"
"We make out in the elevator," Emily reminded him.
"I'm so in."
***
"Why are we at the Palm Woods? I'm pretty sure Lucy's not casting her music video in the lobby," James retorted as Kendall led them through the doors carrying chocolates and jewelry.
"Because Jo needs to hear first that the lyrics in Lucy's song "He said he's glad she's gone and I'm his Ms. Moving On" did not come from these lips.
"Also the elevator," Emily reminded James who suddenly remembered their elevator schedule make out and got excited again.
"Hey," Jo said, storming over. "Just heard Lucy's new song."
"And you're mad," Kendall guessed, holding the gifts out.
"Yeah, I'm mad. Mad at her. No one Swifts my man." Jo nodded at Kendall, "We have to find Lucy, get her to say the song is not about you before every fan girl turns against you."
"So you're not mad at me..." Jo shook her head. "And I can return these $50 earrings."
"Oh, no. I'll take them."
James smiled, "And I'll take the chocolates and give them to Em after we make out in the elevator."
Emily had gotten an urgent text from Logan while their conversation went down. She walked back over to the group panicking. "Babe, elevator is gonna have to wait–"
"But you said!"
"–E! News has footage of Carlos hitting an old lady, I have to go." Kendall and Jo grimaced while James pouted, opening up the chocolates for himself in despair. "You guys got this?" Jo nodded, giving her an assuring glance she would take care of it. Emily nodded, sprinting out of the lobby to catch a cab to the studio.
***
Emily met up with Logan, Carlos, Kelly, and Gustavo outside the studios building waiting on the curb for E! News to show up so they could explain what happened and hopefully clear the scandal.
"Did you let him do this?" Emily questioned Logan, shaking her head in disappointment. The boy gasped.
"Me?" Logan repeated. "What was I supposed to do? Watch his every move?"
"Yes," Kelly responded. Carlos suddenly frowned and started to walk forward. Emily gripped his arm, pulling him back, seeing he was heading for the old lady ahead who couldn't pick up her purse. "Stay away from that granny!" Kelly told him.
"But she dropped her purse!" Carlos cried.
"That is her problem, not ours," Gustavo told him.
"But she can't pick it up!"
Emily threw her hands up, "I will go, okay?" She said, receiving an approving nod from Carlos. She turned crossing ahead. Emily grew a soft smile as she reached the old woman. "Hi, ma'am, can I help you?" She said, bending over to grab the top strap handing to her.
"Oh, thank you," she gushed, straightening her back, carrying on her way. She stopped, turning back to Emily, "Oh, dear. Could you tell me the way to the book store?"
Emily stepped closer to her, guiding her in the direction she pointed. "Head down that street one block, turn left and it'll be about three spaces down but that's the nearest one."
"Em–"
"One second–" she called behind her. "However, if you take another block down and cross the street on the right, on the corner is my favorite. I feel they have a wider selection."
"Thank you so much," the woman gushed, giving Emily's hand a tight squeeze before beginning to cross the street.
"Em!" Logan's voice shouted behind her.
Emily turned on her heel to see Logan wide eyes worriedly gaping at her, jogging forward. "What?" She sighed, shaking her head, crossing to him. She suddenly felt what he tried to warn her about. A crowd of motorcycles tore through the streets, the crowd swerving around cars in the streets, cutting onto the sidewalk where they stood.
Her heart pounded seeing them speeding at her, feet away. Emily turned, quickly stepping out of the way. The motorcycle she dodged sped past, knocking her off her feet. Emily fell backwards, into Logan's arm who caught the girl on her way down.
She let out a breath, "Thanks," she gasped, brushing her hair out of her face as she turned to see where the bikes were in such a rush to get to.
"Of course," Logan nodded. "What was that?"
Three figures ran up behind the two, gasping at the sight of the E! News van speeding off past them. "They saw the bikes, right?" Gustavo muttered.
"They saw she fell right?" Kelly nervously wondered.
Emily and Logan exchanged a confused glance, "What are you talking about?"
Up in the office, the five gathered around, checking the news right away. Black and white video of Emily falling back into Logan's arms was slowed down to look like he dipped her down romantically.
"Tonight, we have exclusive footage of BTR's Logan Mitchell with bandmates girlfriend and band assistant, Emily Moore in an intimate moment."
Emily peered through her fingers covering her face, groaning at the news. "I don't think they saw the bikes," Carlos winced.
So Gustavo screamed.
***
Gustavo and Kelly stood behind his desk in front of the six teens who regrouped to recap the scandals they had caused before noon.
"So, Kelly and I decided to would be a great idea for us all to get together and have a little recap, starting with I said no scandals!" He shrieked.
"Well, Lucy did agree to say the song wasn't about me," Kendall started to admit.
Then Jo jumped in, "Then he said something stupid and now she's telling everyone at a press conference," she informed everyone as Kendall sheepishly smiled.
"Fix it before E! News airs tonight at 8!" Gustavo told the couple.
Kelly nodded, "Meanwhile, we'll be dealing with Carlos' granny scandal and Logan and Emily's romantic betrayal."
"It's not really a scandal if it's no ones business," Emily remarked, annoyed, crossing her arms.
Gustavo frowned, beginning to scream, agitated by the group.
"Why can't you guys be more like James?" Kelly said, the boy grinning. "He got a duet with Cher Lloyd."
Emily scoffed, "Oh, you don't actually believe that, do you?"
James narrowed his eyes, "What? Is it not believable she'd want to duet with me?"
"No, because you blew up her car at that party," Emily pointed out, the boy's face falling, forgetting Emily was there with him.
A bang came from the door. "James!" An accented voice shouted. "I know you're in there recapping."
Emily gave a prideful smirk as James admittedly smiled at the group, "Duet... scam?" He laughed it off.
"Open this door right now!"
"We should leave now."
"Quick! The secret passage," Carlos suggested.
"Go! Go! Go!" Gustavo shouted, opening the passage, sliding the bookshelf over to reveal the cold stone walls behind it, waving everyone to run in. "Fix those scandals!"
Emily and James stopped, knowing they were heading in opposite directions. "Best of luck," she shrugged.
"Feel free to make it up to me later by making out," James winked, giving her a kiss on the head before sprinting off now the narrow hall before she could turn him down.
***
"I hate all of you," Gustavo said.
With the plan to collect footage of Carlos being nice to an old lady, they forced Gustavo to dress up as a granny. Then Kelly had a rush order of t-shirts in for Logan and Emily. Emily's had James' face on it with a massive heart around him and Logan's shirt had the words "just friends" with an arrow pointing to her, assuming she stood on the correct side on him.
"Let's go granny," Carlos mumbled, tugging Gustavo's arm to walk him across the street. Logan and Emily sighed heavily, following behind them, distantly to show off their shirts.
"Guys!" Kelly hissed. The three turned. "I can't see your faces or the shirts." Emily stopped, giving a half-hearted smile, facing the camera.
They turned back, seeing Gustavo was gone. "Um?"
"Gustavo?" Logan called.
"Where'd he go?" Carlos wondered.
Gustavo got hit by a bus. After making sure he wasn't dead, Kelly had them do the walk across the street again, except this time, walking towards her. Then Gustavo feel down a manhole.
So Carlos and Emily each grabbed one of Logan's leg, lowering him head first into the hole to pull Gustavo out while Kelly went for help. As soon as they got him back to the surface, still alive, he got him by a bus again.
"Did you guys get the footage? Bus!" Gustavo cried as Logan and Carlos led him, covering in dirt, casts, bruises, and sweat back up to the office. "Do people think you're nice to old ladies? Bus!"
"People only know what E! showed them and that's the footage of Carlos' bee slap and Logan and Emily's bike save," Kelly groaned.
Gustavo began screaming in agony. Emily looked up, seeing cameras pointing at them from the building, "Are those security cameras?" She wondered out loud, making Gustavo stop screaming.
Realizing, they all ran up into the studio, skidding to a stop in front of the monitors. "See if there's different angles of what happened," Logan said as Kelly fumbled with the remote.
"Then we can send it to E!" Carlos gasped.
They leaned in, intently watching as Kelly flipped through the cameras, finally landing on one right where Carlos and the old lady were earlier that day and where the bikes tore through the square.
"This just in: New footage that proves Big Time Rush is actually helpful and not hurtful to old ladies," the reporter said, showing the clips of Carlos swatting the bee away. "And that Big Time Rush are loyal to their friends, acting heroically."
Emily sighed in relief, knowing her problem was out of the way, though she wasn't totally content with being portrayed so foolishly in the video, but whatever it took to clear the scandal.
"But big time scandals still remain as the world waits for pop princess, Lucy Stone, to announce the identity of her jerkface boyfriend in her song. Is it Kendall Knight? We have all the details tonight at 8."
Gustavo screamed at the large screen again. Emily turned to Carlos, "Ready to go save Kendall?" She asked.
Carlos slapped his helmet, hopping out as Logan gestured for Emily to exit before him, the three running out to stop the press conference.
***
Logan and Carlos insisted on wearing mustaches to disguise themselves. James had the same idea when they ran into him in the parking lot, to Emily's surprise. She thought Cher would've killed him by now.
By time the four of them got inside, Kendall and their friends had successfully pissed Lucy off.
"The question I want to answer is who the guy in my song is, and, in fact, he is sitting right–" Lucy said.
"What if," Carlos shouted, the room turning to him, "you were wrong about the guy in your song?"
"Maybe he was just really confused and didn't mean to hurt you," Logan added, now wearing a moppy wig on his head.
"Maybe he just say and does stupid things without thinking and is the best guy I know," Emily shrugged, smiling at Lucy, who definitely recognized everyone in the crowd.
"Help us," James mouthed at her, pleadingly.
Lucy stiffed a laugh, "The song You Dumped Me For Her is really about... not Kendall Knight," Lucy admitted, smiling at Kendall in the crowd. "It's a combination of a few different guys I've known. I had one kiss and half a date with Kendall and it was very sweet. It was great to see all of you again," she said, pointedly looking at her friends from the Palm Woods. "Thank you, and have a great night."
Emily sighed in relief, giving Lucy a small wave as she walked off the stage. She turned back to James, "So you're not dead?"
James smiled, "Nope. Cher understood and said I'm cute," he smiled contently. "And you guys cleared everything up?"
Emily and the two boys nodded, "Yeah, but we almost killed Gustavo," Carlos laughed, smiling at Emily and Logan.
"Yeah, but that's not newsworthy. That's Tuesday."
***
That night, the group sat in the lobby, watching E! at 8, seeing Kendall's name was cleared and all scandals were gone.
"I gotta say," Jo admitted. "That was really nice of Lucy to do that."
"Agreed!" Logan and Carlos chimed in.
"And it was really nice of you not to get mad at me," Kendall smiled at her. "Those lyrics were kinda hurtful."
Jo rolled her eyes, "They're just lyrics. We can always turn off the song and forget about it," she reminded him. Emily pursed her lips guiltily, knowing she'd be playing it as soon as she got in her apartment. James smirked knowingly at his girlfriend. "It's not like Lucy is living here."
"Hey, guys," a voice said. Their eyes turned, seeing Lucy standing in the lobby with a suitcase. "I'm moving back into the Palm Woods," she smiled, crossing through to the elevators.
Emily beamed, showing considerable more enthusiasm than the others. "Really?" She gushed. Lucy gave her an excited nod, passing by.
They stood up, watching Lucy wait at the elevators.
"Uh, oh. Ohh oh ohhhh," Logan and Carlos frowned, watching Kendall and Jo.
James leaned forward, poking Emily, "Can we please make out now?"
***
Hi! Here's another update. I hope you enjoyed! :)
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