"What'd you do to get called down there already?" Zack asked after the intercom had requested his brother's presence in the office. "We've only been in school for like three minutes." Zack finished taking off his coat and stuffed it haphazardly in his locker before digging for the books he'd need for his first few classes.

"I have no idea. Did you blame me for anything before we left yesterday?" Cody took an extra second to hang his jacket properly on the metal hook and straighten the sleeves.

"Umm...I don't think I did."

"Then I have no idea what they want. Want to come with me and find out?"

"Not a chance," Zack laughed. "I've spent enough time in there already this month. I don't want to spend an extra second in that place so I'll catch you in either homeroom or at lunch." He slammed the steel door and spun the lock before sketching his brother a half-hearted salute and headed for the nearby classroom door.

Cody finished swapping books and folders and shut the locker door before making his way to the office, curious as to why he was summoned. He was as certain as he could possibly be that he hadn't done anything to be in trouble over and he believed Zack as much as he possibly could when he said he hadn't gotten him in any trouble so he was perplexed. He walked against the tide of students heading to their various rooms and slipped into the stairwell and skipped down the steps.

"Can I help you?" the elderly woman behind the counter asked when he stepped into the office a few moments later. Her voice was as rough as gravel and she smelled like cheap cigarettes. He unconsciously took a half step backwards.

"I'm Cody Martin. I was called down here," he answered. The old crone squinted at him through her foot-thick glasses and seemed to be deciding if he would taste better baked or broiled when he was saved.

"There he is," a much more pleasant voice said and Cody turned to his left to see his councilor coming out of a hallway with a steaming mug of coffee. "Just the young man I was looking for."

"Good morning, Mrs. Tanner," Cody said with a smile. In his experience, all of the women but one in the office were ancient, blue-haired child-hating ogres and Mrs. Tanner was that lone exception.

"Come with me, Cody," she told him, waving her free hand back toward her office. "This won't take long." Cody stepped behind the counter, giving the older woman a wide berth, and followed his councilor down the hallway.

"I'm not in trouble, am I? Did Zack do something?" he asked as he caught up with her.

"No, you're not in trouble at all and, as far as I know, Zack isn't either. Not yet, at least."

"There's still plenty of time left in the day, Mrs. Tanner. School hasn't even officially started yet," Cody laughed.

"That is true," Mrs. Tanner said, doing her best to cover a grin with her mug. She pushed her door open and stepped inside her office, gesturing for Cody to take one of the seats across from her desk. He saw a backpack and a red coat piled in the first chair so he chose the empty one next to it. He settled in and looked at her expectantly.

"Relax, Cody, please," she told him and Cody allowed himself to loosen his rigid posture slightly. "I called you down here because I have a situation that I believe you are uniquely suited to solve. You see, we have a new student starting with us this morning and I was hoping you'd not mind letting him shadow you for a few days until he gets his feet under himself."

"Of course, Mrs. Tanner," he said instantly.

"I didn't think you'd mind." She spun her chair to the side and pulled a sheet of paper from the printer and handed it to Cody. "His schedule is the same as yours except for his foreign language. He's taking Spanish while you're in French."

"It might as well be exactly the same," Cody said as he looked the paper over. "His Spanish class is across the hall from my French class."

The councilor pulled her glasses down from the top of her head and looked at the room numbers. "So it is. No chance of him getting lost at all now, is there?"

"No ma'am, not unless he already is. Where is he?" Cody looked over at the other chair and its items.

"He stepped out to see a man about a horse."

Cody gave her a very questioning look. "I'm sorry?"

"He had to use the restroom," she explained and Cody nodded sheepishly. "Ah, and here he is now. Cody Martin, may I introduce Chase Mitchell. Cody swiveled in his chair as a dark haired boy about his height with square glasses walked into the room.

"Nice to meet you, Cody," the boy said and held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, too," Cody replied, a bit surprised that someone his age actually knew how to shake hands instead of bumping fists. He felt his ears getting red as they shook hands and let go as the counselor began talking, glad to be facing her instead of the new boy and hoping neither noticed.

"Chase, Cody will be your guide for a few days as you learn to navigate the hallway wildlife and hazards of Thomas Jefferson Middle School." The woman's eyes had the glazed look of one who had seen many, many years of such wildlife.

"It's not really that bad," Cody offered. "Just stay out of the eighth graders' way."

"Sounds just like my old school," Chase said.

"Some things never change. That was the rule even back when I was in middle school a few years ago." Both boys smiled politely at her joke. "But I digress. I think the first part of Cody's tour should be to show you where your locker is so you can drop off your coat. I'll write you both a hall pass just in case."

Cody named off the important places as they passed them on their way upstairs to the lockers. "The cafeteria is right around this corner," he told Chase. "I'd recommend avoiding the meatloaf today unless you're starving and be sure to never eat the pizza even if you are starving. We're pretty sure it's just red-tinted glue with pencil shavings on cardboard."

"That sounds like my old school, too. I usually bring my lunch."

"Where was your old school?" Cody was curious and he couldn't place the boy's accent.

"Right outside of Denver."

"Wow, that's a big move. Did you like it out there? Here's your locker, by the way." Cody rapped on the metal door with a knuckle.

"The city was really awesome but the school wasn't." Chase pulled a slip of paper with his locker combination from a pocket and began twisting the dial.

"Bad teachers?"

"No, they were okay for the most part. You know how there's always that one kid at school that no one likes and gets picked on? That was me."

"That sucks, Chase. I just met you and I already think you're okay."

"Thanks. Maybe I'll have at least one friend here."

"Nah, you'll have at least two. My brother and I are like a set. You buy one, you get the other for free," Cody said with a small laugh.

"Does he go here, too?" Chase finally got the combination to work and popped the door open on his third try.

"Yep, we're twins."

"Oh yeah? That's cool. Are you two identical or the other kind?"

"Identical."

"Do the teachers ever get you guys confused?"

"It happened a lot back when we were younger but not very often these days. We're only in the same class about half the time now and we're really not even that identical anymore."

"Gotcha."

"What about you, Chase? Any brothers or sisters?" he asked to keep the boy talking. Hearing a voice that wasn't heavily Bostonized was refreshing.

"Nope, it's just me and my mom and dad. They wanted lots of kids but got stuck with just me instead." Chase closed his coat inside the locker and pulled his schedule out of his backpack and looked it over. Cody leaned in closer to double check the school's computers hadn't somehow managed to mess it up after all and smelled PopTarts. "Any teacher on here I should be scared of?" he asked as he ran his finger down the list of names.

"Maybe Mrs. Williams," Cody pointed to their algebra teacher. "She's okay most of the time but every now and then she seems to lose it a little and her inner angry dragon pops out. As long as you do your homework and don't fall asleep you should be fine, though."

"That won't be a problem because I actually like math," Chase admitted. His eyes darted around like he'd just uttered a dirty little secret. "I'm a nerd, I guess."

"I'm right there with you, Chase," Cody told him. "If you were to ask my brother, he'd tell you that I'm the king of all the nerds."

"Does he have any of these classes with us?" Chase looked down the paper again.

"Not until after lunch. You'll be stuck with him for the rest of the day after that but I get a break while you two are in Spanish."

Chase laughed. "Well, I guess we should get this day started. Which way is our first class?"


"So what was it this time, Cody? Did the principal need help opening his email again this morning?" Zack asked as Cody walked over to the table with Chase a few steps behind.

"No, not today. Mrs. Tanner called me down there because she wanted me to show a new student around." He stepped to the side and gestured. "Zack, this is Chase. Chase, my brother Zack."

"Hello," Chase said politely. He briefly considered trying to shake Zack's hand but the boy was too engrossed in devouring his lunch so he left his hands on his backpack's straps.

"Hey," Zack replied after he cut and swallowed a bite from a mysterious brown pile covered in ketchup. "I hope Cody hasn't been too boring for you. He likes to talk about things no one else knows about a lot so be careful." Cody rolled his eyes.

"He's been okay so far. I haven't fallen asleep on him yet."

"Yet," Zack laughed. "It'll happen."

"Anyway," Cody interrupted, "the lunch line is right over there, Chase. I need to get some milk." Chase needed a drink as well so they left their backpacks on the table and waded through the sea of students and chairs until they came to the end of the line.

"That was meatloaf on his plate, right? It kind of looked like what my mom makes sometimes."

"Yeah, that's what it's supposed to be."

"Didn't you say to not eat it?"

"I never do and most other people don't either, but those rules don't apply to Zack. He has a stainless steel stomach. I've seen him eat pizza that's been under his bed for a week and be perfectly fine."

"Wow. That's impressive and gross at the same time."

"You should try living with him." Cody shook his head as memories of some of Zack's zanier past antics flipped through his mind.

"I've always wanted a brother and then people go and say something like that and I'm not so sure any more."

"He's really not that bad. I give him crap, he gives me crap, it all balances out. If you told me I could trade him for a million dollars with no questions asked, I'd probably keep him ninety-nine times out of a hundred."

"And the last time?"

"I'd settle for five dollars."

"Nice," Chase laughed as he handed some change to the cashier for his juice.

The boys returned to the table and found Zack sitting in front of an empty tray with his hands crossed over his belly. "Full?" Cody asked as they sat down and unpacked their lunches.

"Until we get home."

Zack held court in the cafeteria like a little sixth grade king while they ate. Boys came and went, exchanging small talk and dirty jokes and girls walked slowly by to get a better look at the new kid. By the end of their lunch period, Chase felt as if he'd talked to half of the kids in their grade and been stared at by the other half.

"Is it always like that?" Chase asked as they gathered up their things and meandered their way to the door.

"All the people? Usually," Cody answered. "For some reason Zack's fairly popular."

"Yeah, I'm a pretty big deal," Zack joked and Cody only shook his head. "I'll tell you what though, Chase, by the way it looked to me, you can have your choice of the girls right now. The looks they were giving you...man...I wish I was the new kid in school again."

"They were? I didn't even notice," Chase glanced around the cafeteria.

"You better start noticing. The new kid shine wears off after a week or two," Zack told him and patted him on the back. "Strike like the iron is hot."

"While the iron is hot," Cody corrected.

"Whatever. All I'm saying is that he needs to make his move before he waits too long and ends up like you."
"Hey!"

"I'm just saying."


The boys' afternoon classes passed fairly quickly and their history teacher had just finished passing back the previous day's tests as the final bell rang. She rightly sensed danger and scurried back behind the desk and out harm's way as thirty students began to pack up and leave at once. Zack turned his paper over and groaned before folding it once and shoving it roughly into his backpack. He zipped it shut and was out of the room in seconds. Cody and Chase found him leaning against the painted cinder blocks outside the door. The look on his brother's face let Cody know instantly that Zack hadn't done well on the test.

"Not a word, Cody," Zack said as they approached.

"I already said it before so I won't tell you that you should have studied for it. I also won't mention that I offered to study with you."

"Yeah, well...you know how it is. Video games get in the way sometimes." He shrugged and the trio did their best to move down the hallway through the crowd of bigger kids.

"How bad did you do?" Chase asked as they neared their lockers. "You didn't fail it, did you?"

"Nah, I didn't fail it. I didn't exactly ace it, either, but I got a 78."

"That's...not too bad, I guess," Chase said awkwardly.

"That's what I always say but Mom and Cody seem to think otherwise." Zack shook his head and opened his locker. "Anyway, enough about school. Let's get out of here already." Zack pulled on his coat and slammed the door.

"We'll show you the way to where the buses load if you want, Chase. We walk, but it's on our way out."

"Yeah, that would be cool." He put most of the books he'd received that day into the locker and retrieved his coat and joined the waiting twins. They descended the switchback staircase and made their way to the double doors at the end of the hallway and their freedom. A frigid blast of air hit them as they stepped outside and even Zack momentarily considered going back in.

"Thanks for your help today, Cody. You too, Zack. I'd have gotten lost in there for sure without you guys." he rubbed his hands together and stuffed them deep in the pockets on his coat.

"No problem, Chase. We've been the new kids a few times so we know what it's like," Cody told him and Zack nodded in agreement. "I guess we'll see you tomorrow morning in homeroom if you come back."

"Yeah, I'll be here. This school doesn't seem too bad so far," the boy laughed as he waved and started off for the giant yellow bus. Cody watched him walk away and Zack waited patiently for a few seconds.

"So, can we go now? I'm pretty sure he can get on the right bus by himself. He's a big boy, Cody."

"Huh? Oh, right. I was just making sure."

"Like I said, he's a big boy. Now come on before we freeze to the sidewalk." They turned and began their walk home. Zack pulled a thick knit hat from inside his jacket and stuffed his head in it.

"So what do you think about Chase?" Cody asked after they had crossed the street and escaped school grounds for the day.

"He seems like a nice kid, I guess."

"That's it?"

"I don't really know him yet, do I?" Zack smirked. "He could be an axe murderer for all I know."

"Seriously?" Cody gave his brother a world class quizzically raised eyebrow.

"Maybe!"

"It's times like this that make me wonder why I talk to you."

"Think about it!" Zack threw his arms out and exclaimed. "His family moved more than halfway across the country, right? It might have been for his dad's job like he said or maybe, just maybe, they're trying to outrun the police and the massive amounts of evidence he left behind in Colorado or Montana or wherever he said he's from." Zack peeked at Cody's face and quickly looked away before a laugh could erupt.

"Where on earth do you come up with this stuff?" Cody asked after a few seconds. He gently shook his head and pondered what it would be like to have a normal brother.

"I have no idea. I'm just good, I guess."

"Yeah, that's not the word I would choose but we'll go with it."

"Seriously though, if he asks you to follow him deep into the forest to help chop down some firewood..." He let the ridiculous statement hang in the cold air.

"Zack..."

"Okay, okay. I'm done. All jokes aside, Chase does seem like a nice kid. A little weird, maybe, but nice."

"How's he weird?" Cody asked. He realized that Zack was almost surely baiting him again but he couldn't help himself.

"Simple. He started at a new school on a Thursday. Any normal kid would pretend he was sick to push his first day back until after the weekend."

"Some of us actually like school and don't mind going, you know."

"Oh, I know. And that, my dear Cody, is why you're weird, too." Zack slung an arm over Cody's shoulders in a brotherly you know I'm just messing with you hug.

"So you think he's okay?"

"I told you that he seemed nice, didn't I?"

"Well, yeah, but you usually have a lot more to say about my friends than that."

"He's your friend already?"

"Um, well, I guess so. Maybe. Why? Did he say something?"

"No, calm down you dork. He didn't say anything."

"Oh."

"The more I think about it, he really didn't say anything today. Not much, anyway. He's like you but even quieter, if that's even possible."

"It was his first day at our school. Besides, we were in class most of the time you were with him except for lunch and you did most of the talking then," Cody reminded him.

"True. He seems like a good kid, Cody. It's almost like you two were made for each other. Now come on and let's get home already. I'm starting to lose feeling in my toes."

A/N: This the story I originally signed up to write and post forever ago but I never could figure out how I wanted to tell it. Nothing ever seemed to work and I've probably written and deleted somewhere around 100k words in my attempts to get it right over the years. I've finally settled on an outline I like and I figured I'd better get started before I find something wrong with it and change my mind again. I hope you enjoy it. -SI