What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?

Most of the kids thought the food in the cafeteria was horrible, but little did they know just how bad it really was. That was until the school had a massive sick out and our favorite twins went investigating.

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11:00 am Cheever's High school

The lunch bell rang signaling the half way mark of the school day. It was Friday, and all the students were excited for the freedom the weekend would bring. Cody put away his science books and went to his locker and got his and Zack's lunch, before going to meet his friends in the cafeteria.

As he walked in the cafeteria he glanced around the room, looking for any of his friends. To his surprise, he didn't see any of them in line, and Max was at their table alone with her tray of food. He walked over to her, wondering where everyone was as he walked over to join her. "Hey Max, you all by yourself today?" He asked as he sat down.

"Well Zack should be here in a minute, I think the others are all sick." She answered before she started eating.

Zack came strolling in a few minutes later, looking around to find his friends and brother. With the cafeteria much emptier than normal, it didn't take long. He walked over to the table where Cody and Max sat and picked the seat across from his brother. He was hungry and began drooling as he watched Cody unpack their lunches. Zack saw him take out a roast turkey, and swiss, for himself that was leftover from Sunday's dinner. Cody then handed his brother two roast beef sandwiches that he made from last night's meal. He pulled out the homemade potato chips he had baked for them last night, then for dessert took out three chocolate cupcakes. He even brought condiments from home. Zack couldn't wait to eat; he then looked at Max's tray.

"What is that you're eating Max?" Zack asked the girl as he scrunched up his nose in distaste.

"I'm not sure; they claim its meatloaf. The food here in high school isn't any better than it was when we were in middle school. I always thought everything would be so much cooler here when we got in high school, apparently not." She said as she picked at her food.

"Brother, I am so glad you like to cook, and you're so good at it. We would have to eat that." Zack praised his brother.

"Thanks Zack, I am glad we don't eat that stuff too," Cody said. He blushed a little at the unusual praise from his brother. "Max maybe you should start bringing your lunch too," he suggested to their friend.

"Yeah you really should Max, this food is so different than what we got when we were on the ship," Zack agreed. "I can't believe they actually let them feed kids that stuff."

"Well not everyone is lucky enough to go to school at sea, even if it was just for a year." She teased.

"We just got lucky Max, you know that." Cody said.

"I know I was just kidding Cody. Hey guys, have you noticed how many people are missing school these days?" Max asked. "It seems like everyone is getting sick."

"I guess it even got Bob and Barbara today," Zack said noticing the empty seats at their table.

"Yeah, I guess it did. I just hope it stops spreading soon," Cody added.

"Every day it seems like there are more kids missing. I think I am going to call Bob when we get home and see if he needs anything." Zack responded.

"Hey, do you guys mind if I come over after school today no one is going to be home and I am worried about the others too. Maybe we could call some more of our friends and see if they need their homework dropped off." Max asked them.

"I wasn't really thinking about their homework, but ok I guess." Zack agreed hesitatingly as he reached for the last cupcake before Cody packed it up.

"That's a good idea Max, we'll do that. You want to ride the bus home with us or meet us at the Tipton?" Cody asked her as he started packing up what was left of his and Zack's lunch.

"Ok then I will see you at the bus after school." Max said as they all got up to go to class.

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3:30pm at the bus stop

As the boys waited by the bus they started getting worried, Max was late. Neither one of them had seen her for the rest of the day nor had they heard anything about her. They were starting to get worried.

"Do you think we should go look for her? Maybe she got detention or something." Cody asked his brother.

"Yeah, let's go see what happened." Zack agreed.

As the brothers made their way back into the school to look for Max, they ran into Principal Militich. Cody decided to just ask her if she knew anything about Max.

"Well boys Max had to go home about an hour after lunch. She came to the nurse's office because she didn't feel well. Nurse Candle took care of her and told me she sent her home. Go on home boys, I'm sure she will be ok in a few days." The principal told them unconvincingly. She truly looked worried.

As they walked out of the school and headed home Zack dialed Max's number on his cell phone and got no answer. Cody called Barbara and got the same results so, they tried a couple of their other sick friends, but still nobody answered any of their calls.

Zack looked over at Cody and could tell how worried he was getting. What was wrong with everybody, where were they, and why were so many of them gone? They wondered if they would be next to fall to this strange illness.

"Cody, we have to find out what's happening to all our friends."