Carolynn was having quite a busy week. She was at the studio for hours a day preparing for Big Time Rush's first tour, she was scrambling to get all of her finals done for school, and her graduation was two days away. Needless to say, she was a bit stressed. Since the team wasn't supposed to leave for tour for another week, Carolynn didn't need to go in as much, but she still did to cheer on the boys.
The tour had been Gustavo's highest priority from the moment their first concert ended, so he was more focused on that than Carolynn graduating. And since he was focused on the tour, so was Kelly, which meant that Carolynn was on her own to do all of the prep for her graduation. The guys definitely took notice of the fact that their friend's attendance had been pretty weird all week, but since Gustavo was going insane with tour prep, they never had the opportunity to ask about it.
That day, Carolynn and the guys drove in together for rehearsals, laughing and joking around as always. After a few hours of helping out while the guys had dance rehearsals with Mr. X, Carolynn had to run off to go and pick up her cap and gown, leaving her friends in confusion for the millionth time that week. Once they had a break and were out of earshot of Gustavo and Kelly, Kendall raised his concerns to his friends.
"Hey. Have you guys noticed that Carolynn has left early every single day this week?" He asks as he grabs his water bottle.
"Yeah, actually." Logan states, "That's really unlike her."
"And don't forget that she missed rehearsal two days ago." James reminds them.
"Do you think..." Carlos starts to panic, "Do you think she's being brainwashed to abandon us?"
"Carlos, she's not being brainwashed." Logan states obviously.
"Right."
"All we know is that she hasn't been here, and honestly, it's freaking me out." Kendall tells them.
"Yeah."
"Same here."
"Do you think she's okay?" Logan asks worriedly, "I mean, the last time she disappeared for hours, she hurt herself."
"Okay, how about we don't talk about her trauma while she's not here." James defends, making his friends all pause.
"Right." Kendall nods, "Look, why don't we just ask Gustavo and Kelly where she is? I mean if she's missing work for something, they obviously know what's going on."
"Good idea." The other three agree.
The four boys instantly approached the two adults while their backs were turned. After a few moments of standing there silently, Gustavo grew tired of trying to ignore their presence, so he slowly turned around to face them.
"What do you dogs want?" The man questions, "You still have three minutes of your break."
"Where's Carolynn?" Carlos asks.
"Yeah, it's not like her to miss rehearsals." Logan points out.
"She's like the only reason why you don't end up killing us during these things." James mentions.
"First of all, I don't always end up trying to kill you! Just yesterday I told you guys that you were doing a great job." Gustavo defends, "And second of all, Care is out running errands. She won't be back until tomorrow. Anymore questions, or can we get back to your rehearsal?"
"Fine." The guys all groaned, and before they knew it, they were off rehearsing again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Meanwhile, Carolynn was at the office of her school to pick up her cap and gown, as well as take her final test, which she crushed with zero problems. As she was waiting for them to finish grading her test, she received a phone call from Jo, who was impatiently waiting for her at the mall so she could help Carolynn shop for her graduation outfit.
"Hey." Carolynn smiles.
"Have they said anything yet?!" Jo exclaims.
"Relax. They said it would be about 15 minutes... 13 minutes ago." Carolynn tells her.
"Seriously? How hard is it to grade a math test?" Jo complains, "I mean, you already aced the class."
"I know, but it's a requirement for all students to take an in person math final. And besides, I'm graduating either way." Carolynn reminds her friend in amusement.
"You're right." Jo agrees, "Why am I more worried about this than you?"
"Because, for some reason, you and Camille thought it would be a good idea to host a graduation party for me, and you don't want me to be bummed if I fail?" Carolynn shrugs.
"Yeah, pretty much." Jo confirms, "Speaking of, Bitters agreed to let us use the pool for the party so we could have enough space. Now remember, we're telling everyone to get there at seven o'clock, so try to get there at 8 o'clock. Oh, and try and act surprised."
A few days ago, Jo accidentally let it slip that her, Camille, Katie, and Mrs. Knight were planning a surprise graduation party for Carolynn the day of her graduation. Carolynn begged her to get them to cancel since parties had never really been her thing, but since it was supposed to be a surprise, Jo told her that if she asked them to cancel, they'd know she ruined the surprise.
"Fine. But you know better than anyone that my acting skills aren't as good as yours. Or Camille's." Carolynn laughs, and as she turns her head, she notices the person who was grading her test walking over to her, "Hey, I gotta go. The guy is coming back with my test."
"Good luck. I'll be in the food court when you get here!" Jo tells her before she hangs up the phone. Carolynn quickly slides her phone into her bag and stands up to talk with the man, smiling kindly as he approached her.
"Miss Howard?" The man asks.
"That's me." Carolynn grins.
"I have to say, this test score is impressive! 99 out of 100 points." The man tells her happily.
"Really? That's so good to hear." Carolynn says excitedly.
"You know, after I graded your test, I went into your file the read up on you. You work at Roque Records?" He asks.
"Yeah. I have for a couple years now." Carolynn explains.
"Have you ever thought about going to a music school?" He questions.
"Oh... I guess not. I mean, I already work at a music studio with a professional producer, so I'd say he has already taught me pretty well." Carolynn shrugs.
"You know, you're a Straight A student, I'm sure that there are plenty of music colleges that would love to offer you a scholarship."
"You-you think I could get a music scholarship? But you've never heard my music." Carolynn says with the shake of her head.
"Actually, I have. I did a bit of research on you while you were taking your test, and I heard one of the songs you wrote for Big Time Rush. I just bought my daughter their album, and she loves them." He says with a grin, "Look, I know you're probably all set, and that you have all the time in the world to decide, but I think you should consider this."
"Okay. Thank you." Carolynn nods.
"Now, congratulations on graduating. I will see you at the ceremony in two days." The man tells her as he happily hands her as he hands her her cap and gown, her test, and three music college pamphlets, before quickly walking back to his office.
Carolynn holds there for a moment as the reality of her graduating finally hit her. She would be able to go on tour with the guys without having to worry about schoolwork, and Gustavo would finally be able to hire her as a full time employee so he could teach her how to produce.
She was incredibly excited.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"So that guy really thought that you'd be able to go to a music school?" Jo asks as the two were driven back to the Palm Woods after shopping.
"Yeah. And he handed me these pamphlets for three of the top music colleges in the country." Carolynn tells her as she hands Jo the pamphlets.
"Are you considering it? Because this one is in New York, and if you went there, I'm pretty sure everyone at the Palm Woods would riot." Jo giggles.
"Actually, no. I'm not considering it." Carolynn shrugs, "I'm already learning everything there is to know about music with my uncle, so what's the point in going somewhere to do that."
"I see your point." Jo agrees while they made their way back into the Palm Woods, and up to Carolynn's apartment.
Once they got into her apartment, they set everything down, and Carolynn went to hang up her gown while Jo hung up the dress they picked out.
"Oh, shoot. This thing is super wrinkly. Do you have a steamer I could borrow for it?" Carolynn asks as she messes with the fabric.
"Uh yeah. Let me go grab it for you." Jo nods as she leaves the apartment.
As soon as she steps out, Camille steps out of her apartment and they both walked to the elevator together as Camille asks, "How's she doing?"
"Well, as of a few hours ago, the wonderful and amazing Carolynn Mallory Howard officially became a high school graduate. I'm going to grab my clothing steamer for her gown as we speak." Jo smiles, making Camille cheer, "What about you? Are you finished finalizing the guest list?"
"Yup." Camille says, happily holding the guest list up for her to see, "I'm going to stop by the crib to verify everything with Mrs. Knight. Wanna come with before you take the steamer to Carolynn?"
"Of course."
At the same time, the guys has just chilling in the crib after a long day of rehearsals, and were actively watching some sort of tv show on the couch with Katie while Mrs. Knight made a list of decorations she needed to get for the party. Just as she was writing down the word 'Banner' on her list, there was a knock at the door.
"Mom, someone's at the door." Kendall states obviously from the couch, earning an eye roll from the woman as she went to answer the door.
"Hey girls!" Mrs. Knight greets as she let Camille and Jo into the apartment, easily drawing the attention of the guys.
Kendall and Logan happily get up to greet their girlfriends, with Logan saying, "Hey. Wasn't expecting to see you today."
"I'm just dropping off the guest list for Mrs. Knight." Camille says happily, making Carlos and James pop up.
"We're having a party?!" They exclaim happily.
"Yeah! Bitters gave us the go ahead to throw the surprise party for Carolynn at the pool two days from now, isn't that awesome?" Jo says happily.
The guys all look at her in confusion, and Logan asks, "I'm sorry, what party for Carolynn?"
"Yeah, is it like her birthday or something?" Kendall questions.
"No, her birthday is in February, so it's definitely too late for that." James states confidently, earning a look from the rest of the group, "What? She told me when her birthday was, and I remembered, no big deal."
"Right..." The boys all chuckle sarcastically.
"So then, why the party?" Carlos asks.
Katie, Camille, Jo, and Mrs. Knight all stare at the boys in confusion, and Mrs. Knight says "We're throwing her a graduation party."
"Why?" The four boys ask in unison.
"Wait a second. Have Gustavo and Kelly really not told you that Carolynn graduates in two days?" Katie asks, and the boys all go wide eyed.
"Say what?" Kendall asks with the raise of an eyebrow.
"Carolynn graduates high school in two days." Jo confirms for them.
"She what?!"
"Okay, you guys literally see her every day. How did you not know this?" Mrs. Knight questions.
"She's super excited about it and has been talking about it non-stop. As soon as she got the tickets for the ceremony, she started handing them out to her friends." Camille informs them.
"Really?" Logan asks, "I don't remember her telling us."
"She told me that she told you guys and that she dropped off your tickets with Gustavo so he could give them to you when she wasn't there two days ago to take her English final. Did he really not give them to you guys?" Jo asks.
"Oh, this is bad." Kendall starts to panic, "Our best friend is going to think that we forgot about the biggest day of her life. What do we do?"
"For starters, ask Gustavo why he never gave you guys the tickets." Katie suggests.
"Yeah, and why he hasn't told you guys that she's graduating. We all know that you guys can sometimes be forgetful, but he's her uncle! He should be proud of her." Jo tells them.
"She's right. When you boys graduate, I'll be talking about it all day." Mrs. Knight smiles.
"Alright. Got it." Logan nods, "Let's go."
The four boys start to leave, but before they can, Camille stops them, "Wait! Remember, the party for Carolynn is a surprise, so don't say anything."
"Got it!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Once the boys made their way to Rocque Records, they immediately stormed into Gustavo's office where he and Kelly were talking over some details of the tour. As soon as they burst into the office, Kelly jumps in fear, but Gustavo just squints his eyes in confusion.
"What are you dogs doing back here? Rehearsal ended two hours ago, and I told you to go rest up for tomorrow." Gustavo reminds them.
"Carolynn is graduating in two days?!" The all exclaim.
"Yeah, she's really excited about it. She called me earlier to tell me that she aced her last final and is graduating with straight A's." Kelly beams, but when the guys looked sad, she furrows her brows, "Why do you ask?"
"When were you guys going to tell us?" James asks the two adults.
"I'm sorry, how did you not know?" Kelly asks, "It's like all she's been talking about for like a month now."
"Well..." Gustavo squeals out, making the woman give him a look of displeasure.
"What did you do?" Kelly growls.
"I may have told her to keep quiet about it in front of the dogs so they could focus on the tour..." Gustavo admits guiltily.
"You what?!" The whole group shrieks.
"Gustavo, Carolynn dropped of tickets for them to go to the ceremony two days ago, and Kendall's mom already invited us to the party they're throwing her." Kelly screams, "How did you expect to hide this from them?"
"The is the biggest night of her life and you just thought we would be okay with not knowing?" Kendall yells.
"Quit yelling at me!" Gustavo yells, making the whole room go quiet, "Look, I am sorry that I tried to hide it from you. Okay?"
The guys all exhale, calming down a bit from the stress as Kelly pulls out four tickets to her graduation ceremony, "Here. All of Carolynn's other friends at the Palm Woods are going to be sent to the ceremony in a limo, you can just ride with them."
"Thank you, Kelly." Carlos smiles as he takes the tickets from her.
"Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to get Carolynn a graduation present." Kendall tells them.
"Right. Back in Minnesota, whenever one of our teammates graduated, it was customary for the whole team to pitch in to get them a graduation present." Logan explains to the two adults.
"Yeah. Remember our Freshman year when the team bought Ricky Alexander a custom hockey stick with his name on it?" Carlos remembers.
"Yeah. I also remember that he used that stick to beat Logan up for calling him an idiot." James chuckles.
"It's not my fault that he said 'Supposably' instead of the proper 'Supposedly'." Logan defends.
"Sure, Logan."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The next day, while Carolynn was out getting a few things for the tour, the boys snuck into her apartment to secretly try and find out a good gift idea for her. Logan, who was the only sane one, suggested that they just ask Camille or Jo what some of her favorite things were, but he was out voted.
"Guys, I still think sneaking in like this is a bad idea. What if she comes back while we're in here?" Logan reminds them as Kendall unlocks the door.
"Relax. It's not like this would be the first time that we've been here before she's gotten back." James says.
"Exactly. All we're doing is looking for gift ideas for her. It has too be something meaningful, like the bracelets she bought us. She did that for a big milestone for us, and it was extremely thoughtful, and I want her to think we planned it months ago." Kendall tells his friends as they step into her apartment.
"And besides, Camille and Jo said she was going to be a while, so we'll be in and out before she even knows we were here." Carlos smiles.
As the boys started looking around her apartment for ideas, they each had a different idea of what the perfect gift would be. Carlos thought that they should just get a bouncy castle for her party, and Logan thought they should get her a frame for her diploma, all while James thought they should buy her a new mirror for her apartment, but Kendall knew that their gift should come from the heart, and not just be things that they would like more than her.
"Okay, how is this a good method of searching for a gift? All we're doing is breaking and entering." Logan whisper yells.
"We haven't broken anything!" Carlos defends, but as soon as he does that, he ends up knocking a vase that was on her counter off, causing it to shatter all over the floor, "Whoops."
"Really?" Logan glares, before quickly moving to go clean up his mess.
"Carlos, just don't touch anything. All we're doing is looking." Kendall gently reminds his friend.
"Got it. But what about these paper things on her counter? They're gonna get all wet." Carlos says, picking them up from the counter to show them, "They look important."
Logan pops back up from cleaning the mess to look at what he's holding, and notices that they're college pamphlets, "I never thought I'd say this, but good call Carlos. Those are college pamphlets."
"College pamphlets?" James asks as he walks over to them, "For where?"
"Uhh, a music conservatory here in LA, a music conservatory in San Francisco, and a performing arts school in New York. All great schools might I add." Logan tells them casually as he looks through them. The other three boys give him fearful looks, causing him to give a confused glance, and once he realizes what they were worried about, he drops the pamphlets and lets out a fearful scream.
"Carolynn is gonna leave us to go to one of those music schools!" Carlos exclaims fearfully.
"It's fine, there's one here in LA! She might pick that one! I mean, Gustavo is here! Kelly is here! Camille and Jo are here! We're here!" James panics.
"Yeah, but the schools in San Francisco and New York are two of the top rated music schools in the country." Logan explains.
"You're not helping!"
"Okay, relax!" Kendall yells, making his friends go quiet, "Don't you guys remember that Carolynn only wanted to graduate early so she could work at Rocque Records full-time?"
"Right. Well then, how do you explain these pamphlets, genius?" James screams.
"Okay, you've got me there." Kendall pouts.
"We have to convince her to stay here in LA and continue making music at Rocque Records!" Carlos suggests.
"But if we do that, then she's going to know we were in her apartment without her permission." Logan reminds the group.
"What do you suggest we do then, Logan? If she leaves us, I don't know what I'd do." James frowns.
"Exactly! What about our movie nights?" Carlos says sadly.
"What about our jam sessions?" James adds.
"What about her constant love and support for the band?" Carlos finishes.
As the two kept rambling on, Kendall shouts, "Guys!"
"Sorry."
"Look, all we have to do is subtly remind her of all the reasons why she loves LA, Rocque Records, and the Palm Woods." Kendall starts.
"Then Carolynn will realize that she'll miss this place if she leaves, and she won't want to go." Logan realizes.
"Then it's bye-bye music schools." James smiles.
"And hello full-time at Rocque Records." Carlos finishes as he and James high-five.
"Quick! Leave everything where you found it! Let's get to Rocque Records for rehearsal and remind Carolynn of her favorite thing about being at Rocque Records." Kendall states.
"Goofing off at rehearsals!" The other three exclaim happily.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Carolynn was thrilled to finally have a moment to relax before the crazy schedule she had tomorrow. It had been a few days since she had been able to sit through a full rehearsal, so she was really looking forward to see what they had been up to. While she was waiting for they guys to arrive, she was sat on the couch in the lobby, trying to work on a song.
Rise through the night, you and I
We will fight to shine together, bright forever
Just as Carolynn smiled to herself at the lyrics, she heard screaming echoing through the halls. Furrowing her brows together, she quickly gets up to investigate the sound, but just as she turns the corner, Kendall and Logan came running down the hall holding nerf guns. They quickly dove behind the corner and slowly peeked to check if the coast was clear.
"What exactly am I looking at here?" Carolynn asks them.
"Oh, you know. Just the most epic nerf gun battle in history." Logan whispers happily.
"Right, but why?" Carolynn questions, "Won't uncle Gustavo kill you guys if you get hurt before tour?"
"We're just having fun and goofing off. Like we always do." Kendall shrugs before holding out a gun for her to take, "Would you care to join us?"
"As much fun as that sounds..." She starts, but was quickly interrupted by more screaming coming from the hallway.
The three teens peeked around the corner to see James and Carlos running down the hall, holding up their nerf guns. Once they spotted Kendall and Logan, they started shooting at them. In response, Kendall and Logan started shooting right back. The two teams continued shooting at each other, diving behind couches and chairs, and hiding behind corners and doors. Of course, the chaos drew the attention of Gustavo and Kelly, who both came running out of the man's office.
"What is going on out here?" Gustavo yells, and in response Carolynn just points to the four boys.
"For some reason, the boys have decided to have an epic nerf gun battle." Carolynn informs the man, and the guys immediately stopped what they were doing.
"Well, knock it off and get in the studio for rehearsal." Gustavo tells the boys as Kelly took the toys away, "We leave for tour in five days, and the last thing I need is for you dogs to hurt yourselves."
The two adults walk into the studio, and the guys all sigh in disappointment. They all slowly turn to Carolynn, who gives them an amused look, "Okay, you guys had to have known that was gonna happen."
"Yeah. But it was fun while it lasted." Carlos smiles.
"To be honest, it did look like fun." Carolynn chuckles, "Maybe after the tour is done, we could do it again at the Palm Woods park."
Carolynn walks into the studio, and the boys all sigh as Logan points out, "Well, that didn't work."
"Carolynn usually always loves to join in on our nerf gun battles." James pouts.
"We're losing her!" Carlos cries out, hugging James dramatically.
"We are not losing Carolynn." Kendall states obviously, "Not yet. The only reason why she didn't join in was because we're about to go on tour, so obviously we need to come up with a harmless way to goof off with her. Any ideas?"
"Well, Carolynn always finds it funny when we accidentally mess up choreography and then joke about it." Logan points out.
"You're right." Kendall remembers, "Maybe if we make her laugh as much as we can, she'll remember how fun we are and the music schools will leave her mind."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Once the boys got into the studio a few minutes later, Gustavo handed each of them a mic, and Kelly and Carolynn prepared everything for the sound board.
"Okay, dogs. Today is just a run through of the concert." Gustavo explains, "Now, since tomorrow is a big day and we won't be having rehearsal, I'm gonna need to see you at your best today. No goofing off, no joking around, and no distractions."
The boys look at each other with wide eyes, but Kendall quickly covers for them, "Don't worry Gustavo. You can count on us."
"Alright. Famous, from the top!" Gustavo yells before joining Carolynn and Kelly behind the sound board.
As soon as the music started, Carolynn smiled at the boys on stage, but just as Kendall was about to sing the first lyric, Carlos dropped his mic, and Logan pretended to trip over it. Carolynn quickly stands up to go help the boy up, and Gustavo yells for the band to stop the music.
"Logan, are you okay?" Carolynn asks as she helps him off of the ground.
"I'm good. I guess I should have been watching where I was going." Logan laughs.
"Okay. Take two! Carolynn, off the stage." Gustavo tells his niece.
"Got it." Carolynn nods, but before she walks off, she tells the boys, "Look, it's been an exhausting couple of days, so being able to watch a full rehearsal is just what I need."
The boys all smile as she joins the two adults at the sound board again, and for the whole song, they put on their best show for her. Until the next song where Kendall "Accidentally" tripped over his feet and face planted off of the stage. Then the next song, Carlos tried to juggle all of the microphones, and then the song after that, James "messed up" his lyrics. This kept happening throughout rehearsal. Gustavo was very upset about all of the mishaps, and by the end of the rehearsal, he had plenty to say.
"Dogs..." Gustavo starts while Carolynn started packing up her stuff, "What happened?!"
"Yeah, yesterday the show was nearly perfect, and now it's terrible." Kelly agrees.
"Is it? Because I thought we were having fun?" Carlos says cluelessly.
"It's important to have fun, but this is your first tour. It's serious." Carolynn reminds them with a frown, causing each of them to panic, "Now, I have to go. It's getting late, and Jo and Camille are taking me to get my nails done for tomorrow. I'll see you guys later."
Carolynn grabs her stuff and walks away , and all the boys could do was stare off sadly as she did. Sensing that something was off, Kelly questions, "Okay, what was that all about?"
"Okay." Kendall sighs, "Earlier this morning, we snuck into Carolynn's apartment to try and find an idea for a graduation gift."
"And I found some pamphlets for a couple of colleges on her kitchen counter." Carlos explains further.
"They were for a music conservatory here in LA, a music conservatory in San Francisco, and a performing arts school in New York." Logan tells the adults.
"And since we found them on her counter, that could only mean that she wants to go to one of those schools, and leave us all behind." James frowns.
"What? That's crazy." Gustavo laughs, "If she wanted to go to college, she would have told me."
"Would she?" Kelly asks genuinely, "I mean think about it. Carolynn always puts others ahead of herself, and maybe she didn't want to stress you out with the tour coming up. And let's not forget that the only reason why we put her in online school was so that she'd be able to work here full time. Maybe she thinks that if she tells you, you'll freak out."
"You know what, that's fair." Gustavo admits.
"We have a plan to convince her to stay by reminding her of all the things she loves here." Kendall explains, "Which is why we had the nerf battle and messed around during rehearsal."
"We're sorry."
"Don't be sorry." Gustavo tells them, "I want in."
"Come again?" Logan asks.
"If you think I'm going to tell her she's not allowed to leave for college, you are mistaken." Gustavo explains, "But I am more than willing to convince her to want to stay."
"I agree." Kelly nods, "So, what's the plan?"
"Well, goofing off and having fun didn't work..." James pouts.
"Then we should remind her that everyone here loves her." Logan pitches.
"We're listening." Kendall states as he leans in.
"Think about it. She has shown all of us constant love and support without hesitation. Maybe if we do something super spontaneous to show her that we love and support her..."
"She'll be so moved that she won't consider leaving anymore." Kelly finishes.
"Kelly, what time is Carolynn's graduation tomorrow?" Kendall asks the woman.
"The ceremony starts at 3pm, the party they're throwing for her at the Palm Woods starts at 7pm, but she's not supposed to get there until 8pm." Kelly shrugs, "Mrs. Knight texted me all of the details last night."
"Okay, so tomorrow at her graduation we do something that will make her know that we're proud of her." Kendall goes on to explain, "We make signs, get a bull horn, maybe some noise makers, and once they call her name, we all cheer for her as loud as we can."
"And once she sees how proud we all are of her, she'll want to stay here in LA." Logan finishes for him.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Gustavo asks, "Let's get those signs."
"Alright!"
"Whoo!"
"Let's do this!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The next day, Carolynn made her way down to the lobby at around 1pm to meet the car Gustavo had sent to take her to the ceremony. After she had left, Camille sent the "All Clear" to the group, and they all quickly got to work setting up the pool for the party. As the guys arrived to help set up, Camille and Jo noticed the signs they had made the night before.
"Hey. What's with the signs?" Jo questions.
"At the ceremony today, we're gonna show Carolynn how proud we are of her. When they call her name, we're gonna hold up these signs, and cheer for her as loud as we can." Carlos explains.
"Don't you think that's a bit much?" Camille asks with an eyebrow raised, "I mean, that might just embarrass her."
"Hey, we're just trying to remind her how much she means to us so she doesn't leave to go to music school in San Francisco or New York." James blurts out.
"What makes you think she's going to leave for music school?" Jo questions, knowing all to well that she wasn't planning on leaving.
"Yesterday, we snuck into her apartment to find some inspiration for a graduation present, and we found some college pamphlets on her counter." Logan tells them, "Which could only mean that she's considering going."
"Okay, first of all, you snuck into her apartment? That's like a huge invasion of her privacy." Jo says angrily before calming down a bit, "And second, she's actually-"
"Dogs!" Gustavo says as he and Kelly enter the pool area, interrupting Jo in the process, "I got the bull horn and the noise makers. Are you ready to let Carolynn know how proud we are?"
"You know it."
"You guys aren't really gonna go through with this, are you?" Jo asks.
"Of course we are!" Kendall says happily, "Because Carolynn means the world to us, and if she left, we'd probably all go insane."
"Okay." The girl says defensively.
"Now, everyone to the limo!" Gustavo exclaims, and everyone that was invited to the ceremony cheered as thy followed him out to the front.
Jo and Camille hung back for a moment, and Camille asks, "Didn't Carolynn say she wasn't going to consider going to music school because she was all set at Rocque Records?"
"Yep." Jo confirms.
"And they think that she wants to go to music school?"
"Yep."
"So they're just going to either embarrass themselves or Carolynn?"
"Looks that way."
"Should we stop them?"
"Eh, maybe they'll learn not to go snooping through her apartment when she's not there."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
At around 2:45pm, Carolynn was patiently waiting backstage for the ceremony to start, when suddenly, the man who she met with a few days ago for her math class approached her happily. Noticing the man approach, Carolynn stands up to greet him.
"Miss Howard! So good to see you again. Congratulations." The man says with a smile.
"Thank you." Carolynn smiles back, "I'm super excited."
"Glad to hear it." He nods back, "Have you put any thought into those music schools? You know, I have a friend in New York who would be happy to accept you within the year."
"As much as I appreciate the offer, I'm going to have to decline." Carolynn starts to explain, "My uncle put me in online school so I could work for him full time, and I intend to keep that promise. Plus, I already have awesome resources to learn at Rocque Records."
"Ah, oh well. At least you're sure of what you want to do." He tells her genuinely, "Speaking of, it's time to head out to the auditorium. Why don't you take your place in line?"
Carolynn nods and heads over to her spot in line. Since the school covered thousands of kids in the Los Angeles area, the total of graduates capped out at around 150 kids. And since Carolynn was closer to the front of the alphabet, she would have to wait after she got her diploma for quite some time.
Meanwhile, Carolynn's friends were sat in the stands, waiting a bit impatiently. A decent amount of the kids at the Palm Woods joined the group, including the Jennifers, Tyler, and Guitar dude.
"When is the ceremony going to start?" Carlos pouts, "I'm getting bored."
"Relax, Carlos. I'm sure it will start any moment now." Logan explains, when all of the sudden, music started playing signaling the entrance of the graduates, "See."
As the graduates entered in a line, Carolynn tried to spot her friends in the crowd as they tried to spot her. Once the group spotted her, they all cheered for her happily.
Everyone took their seats, and after a long speech from the principal, assistant principal, and valedictorian, the graduates started to get called up one by one. Carolynn was 16th in line, so all her friends could do was wait patiently for her to get called up. Once she was called up, Gustavo, Kelly, and the boys held up their signs and started cheering. Kendall cheered into a megaphone, James and Carlos blew a horn, and Gustavo and Kelly rang the noise makers, while Logan use cheered and held up his sign. Hearing all the noise, Carolynn looks up to see the commotion, and she instantly turns red in embarrassment. She glares at them angrily as they continued to cheer, and she instantly gestured for them to stop. But they obviously didn't.
Once she got her diploma, she stormed over to her chair, and hid her face from the group for the rest of the ceremony. Pouting, the guys fell into their seats, and Logan pointed out the obvious, "Welp, she didn't like that."
"Nope." The rest of the group agrees.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Back at the Palm Woods, the guys sat around the fire pit with Gustavo and Kelly as Jo, Camille, Katie, and Mrs. Knight looked down on them in disapproval. With a frown, Katie asks, "What part of that did you think was going to work?"
"Yeah, yeah. We messed up." Kendall frowns.
"Did you see the way she looked at us?" James says sadly.
"And she avoided eye contact with us for the rest of the ceremony." Carlos says.
"Look, I know Carolynn means a lot to you guys, she means a lot to us too." Camille acknowledges, "But maybe you should ask her about the music colleges."
"You're right." Kendall nods, "We were so worried about her being mad that we snuck into her apartment, we didn't think about whether or not she would be mad for embarrassing her. Plus, we don't even know if she's that serious about music school."
"Well, once she gets here, you can make it up to her." Jo reminds them.
Once 8 o'clock rolled around, and Carolynn made her way out to the pool, and everyone yelled "Surprise!"
"Aw, thank you guys!" Carolynn exclaims, acting as surprised as she could. Once she greeted everyone, she slowly made her way over to the group, who held their breath as they waited for her to speak, "Do you guys want to tell me what that was?"
"Look, Carolynn, we're so sorry that we embarrassed you." Kendall apologizes, "But we have something we think will make it up to you."
"First, we got you your favorite flowers." Carlos says, handing her a bouquet of sunflowers.
"And a $50 gift card to your favorite coffee place." James says as her hands her the gift card.
"We also made you this coupon book for free chores for a month, including laundry, dishes, and whatever else you can think of." Logans says handing her the book.
"And we wanted to get you something meaningful like you did for us when you gave us these bracelets." Kendall explains as he and the guys held up their wrists to show that they were wearing them, "We know that you've recently been obsessed with learning guitar, so we got you a custom made guitar strap."
As Kendall hands her the beautiful guitar strap, Logan explains the design to her, "There are five stars across it to represent each of us, and we got your name engraved on the bottom. Plus, on the back of it, we got one of the first lyrics you wrote for us."
Carolynn smiles softly as she turns the strap around to see the words:
It's the only life you've got, so you gotta live it Big Time
"Thank you, guys. This is really sweet." Carolynn says happily.
"We're sorry if we embarrassed you at the ceremony." James informs her, "It's just, we wanted to show you how proud we are of you so you wouldn't want to go."
"But we understand if you want to leave after today." Carlos pouts.
"Leave? Why would I leave?" Carolynn asks in confusion, "What's going on?"
"Yesterday, we snuck into your apartment to come up with a gift idea, and I accidentally knocked over a vase, and as Logan cleaned it up, we found those college pamphlets." Carlos explains.
"We know you're considering going to one of those music schools, and we wanted to convince you not to go." James finishes.
"So you guys are the ones who broke the vase." Carolynn nods, "I knew someone was in my apartment yesterday."
"Wait, so you knew and didn't say anything?" Logan asks.
"I always keep flowers in that vase, it really livens up the apartment. When I got back to my apartment, and I found it broken in the trash, I figured someone who had a key accidentally knocked it over." Carolynn informs the group.
"Ohhhh."
"Look, we're sorry about sneaking into your apartment, and for embarrassing you at the ceremony. I just... We just don't want you to go." James tells her.
"I appreciate the honesty." Carolynn giggles, "But I'm not going to music school. Especially not across the country."
"Say what?" Kendall questions as the whole group leans in.
"You're not?" James asks a little too happily.
"No!" Carolynn explains, "The only reason why I had those pamphlets was because one of the people who worked at my school gave them to me. He thought I would be a good fit for those programs, and asked me to consider it. Which I didn't, because I've got everything I need at Rocque Records."
"So, you're going to stay?" Gustavo asks.
"Of course I am." Carolynn nods, "I have a life here, and I think I'd regret leaving."
"Oh, thank god." James exhales as he runs over and gives her a hug. The rest of the guys quickly moved in to join the hug, and they all cheered.
"Now that that's out of the way, let's party!" Jo exclaims, and the group quickly moved to the dance floor.
The rest of the party was amazing, and Carolynn was thrilled to finally be done with school.
And she couldn't wait to see where life would take her next.
Author's Note: Well, that's a wrap on season 1!