Zack and Cody were getting ready for their first day of 9th grade. It was the night before the big day. They went downstairs to the lobby to get some candy, without Carey knowing. When the elevator opened Cody saw this beautiful girl standing by two older people. He was assuming they were her parents. He stood there while Zack went to get the candy. The beautiful girl and her family walked by him and she smiled at him, which made him smile back at her. He ran up to the front desk to Mr. Moseby.
"Mr. Moseby. Who was that girl?"
"The family's name is Madden. I'm sorry, I don't know the girl's name." Cody walked away and back up his suite sad. Before the opened the door, he heard a lot of yelling coming from across the hallway. He listened closer.
"Amanda, you won't amount to anything if you keep painting these useless pictures. If you want to go big you have to become a lawyer, like me." Yelled a man.
"But I don't want to be like you! I want to be a painter."
"Do you know were painters end up?" There was a pause. "Dead. They are all dead. Monet, Picasso, every 'famous' painter is dead." Then the yelling stopped and Cody heard footsteps walking away. Then he heard the girl crying. He walked into his suite even sadder than before because he couldn't help the girl who was in there. Whoever she was. While Cody was sleeping, he had a dream of him and the Miss. Madden meeting again and the girl who really wants to paint was a field with Monet and Picasso and they were all painting a picture of Miss. madden and Cody.
Cody and Zack were sitting in homeroom and talking to each other. Then Cody saw Miss. Madden walk through the door.
"Class, this is Amanda Madden. She transferred here from a school in New York."
The name Amanda seemed so familiar to Cody. Then he remembered; the yelling the night before: "Amanda, you won't amount to anything if you keep painting these useless pictures. If you want to go big you have to become a lawyer, like me." Next thing Cody knew, Amanda was sitting next to him. She looked sadder than he was the night before. And it killed him to watch the agony beyond her eyes. He knows what she's really about. Why she's here, why she looks hurt and sad, and what she likes.
The bell rang and everyone in homeroom walked off to first period hoping they wouldn't meet any seniors on the way. It was weird to him that no one even bothered to say hi to her not even in homeroom. The only two people who ever said hi to her in two days, that Cody knew about, was him and their homeroom teacher. And it was sort of tragic the way people just passed by her. But then Cody realized everyone saw her but they just don't know her.
When Cody arrived back to the Tipton he went into his suite and started his history homework. Then he heard screaming coming from that same suite as last night. The screaming was loud but it sounded muffled. Cody got up and walked over to that suite hoping the girl would answer the door instead of the father. When the door opened, he was shocked to see Amanda Madden standing there. She was crying and holding a pillow in her hand.
"Can I help you?"
"I heard muffled screaming and I just wanted to know if everyone's alright."
"I'm fine. My parent's aren't here yet. Do you want to come in?" Cody entered the suite.
"So what did you think of school today?" Cody asked after a long silence.
"It was fine. I hate being the new kid. I mean, you're new to the school too, but you know people. I know no one. I have no friends. Who wants to be friends with a new girl who likes painting and screams in her pillow, wishing for a better tomorrow? I hate how people ignore me so much, but I take it. You know? I wouldn't be friends with me either, but I kind of don't have the choice." She said slightly giggling.
"Well, I like being friends with you." They smiled at each other. "Do you like painting?"
"Yea, but I always wanted to change the world." There was a pause. "Don't you hate how people are always trying to fit in? I hate it. My mom says I'm very original. My dad wants me to be like him, which isn't so original."
"Yea that's what my mom says too. I have to go, but I'll see you tomorrow in school. Bye Amanda."
"Bye Cody." Cody went back to his suite and tried to concentrate on his homework, but he couldn't. He kept thinking of Amanda. He was thinking of what Amanda would do when she's older. Maybe a painter, still, maybe in a movie, or a song. Then Zack walked in and sat next to Cody on the couch.
"Zack, did you see that girl in our morning meeting today?"
"Which one? There's only like 10 of them."
"The new one. Amanda Madden. What do you think of her?"
"She's hot."
"Is that what all the guys think?"
"Oh yea. Why? What do you care?" Zack gasps then started slightly bobbing his head. "You like her don't you?" He said with a small smile on his face.
'Well, yea. It's just so weird how no one pays her any attention except for when she walks down the hall because the guys think she's hot." Zack nodded his head. "She means the world to me I guess."
"Go tell her that. You might be able to go out with her." Cody got up and walked across the hallway. He knocked on the door and stepped back. He heard more yelling, but after he knocked he realized it had stopped. The door was opened slightly so he opened it all the way to find Amanda crying and her mother trying to comfort her. But her father yelled at her mother. Cody looked around and saw Amanda's paint all over the floor, her paintings smashed, and her brushes broken. When he looked up from the floor, he saw Amanda's father slap her across the face and yell at her to become a lawyer instead or a painter. Her mother ran over and hugged her. Her father had a mad bull like look on his face. He looked up at the door where he just realized Cody was standing. Cody knew this was not good.