Here's chapter two. Still more arguing going on, and more smart arse stylings from Zack, but that's what leads us to the major events in the next chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Make sure you do the same for this one too :) !
Question 22: Which of the following words is NOT an onomatopoeia?
a) boom
b) click
c) siren
d) thud
Is there a fifth choice? Zack thought, finding himself stuck on yet another question in the test that gawked up at him from his desk. I can barely even pronounce the word ono… onomaty?… how ever the hell you say it!
Zack sighed and collapsed back in his seat, finally admitting defeat. This wasn't good. Not only had he already been shifted up to the front of the room for attempting to cheat off someone else's test, but now he was pretty much definite that he had failed, even though he had tried his absolute hardest. And as Zack sat there, noisily tapping his pencil on his desk, the only thing he could think about was how another big, fat, red 'F' was going to look on his permanent record. But more importantly, what Carey was going to say when she saw it.
"Mr. Martin!" The teacher, Miss Roberts, finally snapped. Aggravated, she sighed as both Zack and Cody shot their heads up at the sound of their last name. "Zack." She re-iterated, "I know that there are other things you'd rather be doing right now. Trust me, you're not the only one. But for the benefit of everyone else still taking the test, stop tapping your pencil!"
Zack groaned and reluctantly let out a soft 'sorry Miss' before gazing back down at his half empty test paper. Just as he was deciding whether to attempt to complete any more of it or not, the lunch bell suddenly rang and echoed throughout the entire school.
"Ok class, time's up. Please place your papers on my desk. And hurry, I have a science club meeting that I must attend this lunch time."
Complying with what Miss Roberts had asked, the class swiftly packed up their things and began to make their way to the front of the classroom. Zack however, remained where he was. The 17 out of 50 questions that he had a crack at didn't exactly encourage him to willingly hand in his exam.
"Hey Zack?"
His inner thoughts suddenly fading away from him, Zack gaped up at Cody who stood over him at his desk.
"Yeah, what?"
"Could you hand in my paper for me? I've gotta go to that same meeting as Miss Roberts."
"Ha!" Zack barked, the memories of his and Cody's argument from the previous day flooding back into his mind, "As if I'd - "
There was an abrupt pause. Then a smile that broadened on Zack's face. It seemed that another idea was unfolding in his brain as more memories from the day before returned to him; Nothing important to you has been ruined, hey? We'll see about that, Cody.
" - I'd… give a second thought to helping you out, bro!"
"Thanks." Cody said with a smile, before making a quick dash to the door. "Cya later, Zack!"
"Later, Cody." Zack said, allowing a slight snigger to escape his lips as he stood up and walked over to Miss Roberts' desk. He placed his blank page on the table, but instead of mimicking the same action with Cody's, he quickly and subtly stuffed it in his jacket. Then before anybody in the room had the opportunity to catch onto what he was up to, Zack hurriedly left the room and hid behind a block of lockers that lined the wall outside the classroom.
As soon as Miss Roberts entered the corridor, closing the door to the English room behind her and walking towards the science end of the school, Zack smiled slyly and then approached the doorway, hoping it would be unlocked. With one sharp turn of the doorknob, it clicked open. Perfect.
Zack shuffled through the test papers that were piled on Miss Roberts' desk, looking over his shoulder every now and then in an effort to make sure he wouldn't get caught, before he finally came across his. He pulled Cody's out of his jacket and carefully compared the two. Switch our names? He thought to himself, Nah, too obvious.
As the clock ticked down behind him, and the risk of a teacher walking in on him continually increased, Zack tried to come up with another idea. This test meant everything to Cody. Spring break started in a fortnight, and this was the class' last test for the semester. The mark was going to be applied to their permanent records, so it was vital that Cody did well.
That's it! Zack suddenly erupted in thought as he busily set about erasing about half of Cody's answers on his test. He then went back over it and circled different responses for each question that he had messed with.
Something important to Cody had definitely been ruined, because while Zack was still undoubtedly going to receive an 'F' for his examination, the fact the Cody would be rewarded with nothing more than a 'C' (or so Zack hoped) was going to make everything so worth it.
Circling the final 'd' on the page, Zack held Cody's paper up in front of him and grinned happily at his handy work. However, gazing upon his own work, he wasn't so impressed.
Too bad you don't get extra marks for writing your name correctly.
----
Zack eagerly swung the door open and dumped his bag on the floor of the suite in one slick move. Cody entered after him, excited to tell their mum about how well he felt he did on their final test. Carey on the other hand didn't particularly look like she was in the mood to talk about school tests, or anything else for that matter, as she silently hung up the telephone with a look of disappointment sprawled across her face.
"Hey Mum." Cody asked sounding concerned, "What's up?"
"That was your English teacher, Miss Roberts." Carey replied, gesturing to the phone. "She was telling me that she had a free period at the end of the end of the day so she got straight to work on marking your tests."
Carey abruptly stopped in her tracks and seemed to hesitate. She walked over to Cody and stroked his hair. "Sweetie, do you realise that you got a 'C-' on your exam today?"
"What?!" Cody spat in disbelief.
"What?" Came an echo from Zack, who sounded perhaps a little too pleased at the news.
"Cody," Carey then began again, "Miss Roberts and I are both a little worried. I mean, you've always been fantastic at English. Did you find that test harder than all the others?"
"No." Cody quickly responded. "It was exactly the same as every other test I've taken this semester. I finished it with no troubles, checked it, double checked it, then I had a meeting to get to so I gave it to…"
All eyes in the room suddenly landed on Zack as Cody pointed towards his brother as a means of completing his sentence. That's when it clicked, and not just because Zack was wearing an expression of extreme guilt.
"Zack?" Carey asked accusingly.
"What did you do?!" Cody snapped, seconding the accusation.
Zack stared at the two pairs of indicting eyes that glared him down. It certainly didn't take long for him to be caught out, and it was that rather than the fact that he was going to be in even more trouble than he already was that worried him.
"Well it's only fair isn't it?!" Zack countered, willingly admitting that what had happened was his doing, "I miss out on basketball, you get a bad grade on the test."
"Zack, that was wrong!" Carey shouted as she wrapped an arm around Cody.
"Those test results go on our permanent records!" Cody yelled distressingly at his brother.
"Don't worry, sweetie." Carey spoke reassuringly to Cody, "We'll get your grade fixed up."
Zack's jaw dropped at this comment. "You're not going to dob me in are you?"
"That," Carey began, "and you just lost your whole first week of Spring break as well."
"You can't do that!"
"You are 15 years old, Zackary!" Zack took that as his cue to back down. The use of his full name twice in two days was definitely not a good sign of what was to come. "And you will do as I say. Now, apologise to your brother."
Carey impatiently nudged Cody slightly forward. He watched Zack's body language intently, trying his hardest to read what his brother was thinking, and ultimately, why he had done what he did.
"I'd rather give up my whole Spring, Summer and Christmas breaks." He finally emitted bitterly.
"Well if that's how you feel then you can just spend another evening in your room." Carey spoke eerily calmly. "No T.V, no Xbox, no music. Now."
Carey projected her gesture towards Zack's bedroom door as she had done the previous night, but Zack's eyes hadn't left Cody's the entire time in which she had spoken.
"I hate you."
Cody's strong stature weakened slightly once he heard this from Zack, and as he watched his older brother march off towards their room, Cody carefully began to pick apart what Zack had said to him. Whenever those three words left Zack's mouth in direction to Cody they had always been accompanied by a sarcastically slurred tone or a meaningless burst of anger, but this time it was backed up by nothing else but cold, harsh, and entirely believable emotion.
"And if I hear any noise coming from that room, I will snip every one of your electrical cords in half, young man!" Carey yelled, snapping Cody back into reality.
"I'd like to see you try!"
The bedroom door then slammed with full force, causing both Cody and Carey to cringe at the ear piercing smash that ricocheted through the suite.
"Oh, he is asking for it." Carey said threateningly as she stomped heated with fury towards the twins' door.
Cody thought that after 15 years Carey surely would've learnt by now to not encourage Zack's reckless moods when they came about, but apparently rage really could blind someone, even a loving mother. "Don't, Mum." He said grabbing her wrist and giving her a soft smile as she cast her gaze on him. "You'll only be adding more flames to the fire if you make a grand entrance like that. Don't worry, he'll come round."
Carey instantly returned the smile to her youngest son as she pulled him into a tight hug and kissed him on the top of his head. "You're right, Cody." She spoke, her voice ominous with praise. They then parted, Carey's arms still clinging to each of Cody's shoulders. "I'm sure he was just angry at me when he said those things to you, sweetie."
"Yeah." Cody quickly agreed, "I know."
But that was the thing. Cody didn't know. The only thing he was sure of was that nothing Zack had ever said to him before had seemed that enraged but still just as serious. And even though he was just as mad that his twin had tried to sabotage him like he did, something told Cody that this time Zack had really meant what he said. Really, really meant it.
Don't go losing interest. Zack gets snatched in the next chapter. But remember, the reviews encourage me to write faster :)
Reneyyyyy x