Two years earlier
I can't believe it. I can't believe what I've done. Why was I so stupid?
God I hate this orange jumpsuit. I always thought Zack would be the one here. I thought he would end up in this mess.
"Hello Cody, I'm Jerica Sanders and I'll be your attorney."
Cody kept his eyes looking down at the table he was sitting behind. Jerica sat her briefcase down on the table and sat down in the chair opposite of Cody. She opened the briefcase and took out some papers.
"I'm going to need you to tell me everything that happened exactly one week ago leading up to you being arrested."
Cody sat silently, as if he was stuck in another world.
"Cody! Cody Martin!" His head popped up, "If you want me to help you," She continued, "Then tell me what happened."
He nodded slowly, "Right, right. Uh, just let me think for a second."
"Take your time."
After sitting silently for a few more seconds, Cody began to speak, "The S.S. Tipton docked in California that day. After school was over, Zack, London, Bailey and I were going sightseeing. London's dad made arrangements for one of her cars to be ready and waiting for us. We went sightseeing for about three hours. Around six that evening..."
"Let's go shopping!" London said as she clapped her hands together.
"That sounds like fun!" Bailey replied with a smile.
Zack rolled his eyes, "Make me barf."
"What about you Cody?" Bailey asked, "What do you want to do?"
"Whatever you want to do is good with me."
"Okay, I can't handle this," Zack said in an annoyed tone, "London, what if I dropped you and Bailey off to go shopping, then I take the car and come back to pick you up at nine. That gives us plenty of time to be back at the ship by ten."
"Why would I let you go off in my car?"
"Because if you don't then the entire time you shop I will complain, non-stop. And if anyone can complain, it's me."
"That's very true," Cody agreed.
London sighed, "Fine. But if you do anything to hurt my car, I'll kill you."
"No worries."
Cody stopped.
"Keep going," Jerica said.
"When we got to the stores that London and Bailey wanted to shop at I was going to go with them, but Zack said there was no way he was going to let me spend three hours shopping with girls. We didn't really have any plans so we drove around doing nothing for like half an hour. That's when Steven called."
"Who's Steven?"
"One of Zack's friends. Steven called and said that he and Willy- Willy is also Zack's friend- were throwing a little party on the beach. I didn't want to go, but Zack was driving so we went. When we got there everyone was drinking."
"How many people were there?" Jerica asked.
"Around twenty-five to thirty. It took about ten minutes before Zack was convinced that he should loosen up and drink. For me it took a while longer."
"Come on man, just one beer," Steven said as he held a can of beer out to Cody.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because, now that my brother is drinking, I have to drive back to pick up Bailey and London."
"Well, we're all drinking."
"I know, but you all don't have to drive. You're all walking back to the ship."
"Fine, fine, fine. Be a loser. But, whenever you're ready to have some fun, the beer is right over there," He said as he pointed to two large coolers filled with beer.
"I sat on the beach, off to the side, by myself for twenty to thirty minutes before giving in."
"Why did you give in?"
Cody chuckled, "Because I was sitting on the beach, alone. Believe it or not half an hour is a long time to think about things. I mean there were about thirty people around, all of which I knew, yet not one of them were speaking to me. I had a big L attached to my forehead and I was sick of it. So, I had a couple of beers. I know I didn't have more than two. They tasted horrible but I wanted to fit in so badly that I was determined to drink at least a little bit. A while later I looked at my watch and it was eight forty-five so I got Zack. I took the keys from him, because I knew he had had more to drink than me, and we left to pick up Bailey and London."
"You're five minutes late," Bailey said when as she got into the passenger side of the car.
"Sorry," Cody replied quietly.
"It's fine. You're just usually super punctual is all."
"Where's London?" Cody asked.
"She wanted to shop some more. She's gonna call her dad, for him to call a driver, for the driver to come pick her up and take her back to the ship later on."
"Oh."
Cody had just driven off when Bailey began to smell alcohol, "Is that... beer I smell?"
Zack, who had been silent up to this point, spoke up, "No! Why would you think that?"
His much-too-fast reply worried Bailey, "Cody?" She said as she turned to look at him, "Have you two been drinking?"
"Uh...No, no. We haven't be-"
"Cody!" She cut him off, "You know that I know when you're lying to me. You've never been able to keep secrets from me. I smell beer on both you and Zack, now tell me the truth!"
"Okay! We were drinking. But I only had a couple of beers!"
"Damnit! Why did you blab, Cody?" Zack asked angrily from the back seat.
"I can't believe you!" Bailey yelled, "Pull over, now!"
"No, I'm fine, I swear."
"Pull over!"
"I'm not pulling over, Bailey! Be quiet!"
"I will not be quiet! You are not driving!"
"I'm driving right now!" Cody yelled.
"Cody, I mean it! Please-"
"That's when I swerved," Cody continued as he stared passed Jerica, at the wall. "I've never worked well under pressure. I guess that, plus the fact I had had two beers... I couldn't concentrate. I swerved and the truck coming the other way didn't have time to stop. He hit the passenger side. When the ambulance got there they immediately took us all to the hospital. The guy in the truck was fine. I only had a few scratches and some bruises..." Cody's voice trailed off as tears fell down his cheeks.
"Continue, please."
"All because of my stupidity... Zack is still in a coma and Bailey is... She's dead. I killed her."
I meant to update sooner but I've been really sick so I didn't feel like writing :( I'm still sick but I felt like writing so I figured I better write while I felt like it.
I have a question. I hate the word "chuckle" but I couldn't think of different word for a small laugh so could you guys let me know a different word in your reviews? The word "chuckle" is one of my pet peeves. haha
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review :)