Disclaimer: I don't own The Suite Life of Zack and Cody or The Suite Life on Deck. If I did, this story would be an acual episode on the show(s).
Chapter 2: Tape 1-Arrival at the Tipton
"… be aware that I'm about to reveal to you Zack's biggest secret. It's something he's kept closely guarded for years, and there are only two people on this boat that know it. You have to promise that you'll never tell him about what I'm going to show you."
Ms. Tutweiller and the kids followed Mr. Moseby through the hallways of the ship, until they reached his cabin. He held the door open as they all filed in, then closed it afterwards. He then sat down in a comfortable-looking armchair and crossed his arms over his chest, examining the five of them.
Ms. Tutweiller saw that Maya had an impatient look on her face. Said girl opened her mouth- presumably to tell Mr. Moseby to get a move on- but he spoke first.
"Alright," he said. "Before I tell you his secret, I want you five to tell me about Zack. What is his personality?"
Maya spoke first. "Well, he's kind and pretty considerate, although he does get into trouble sometimes. And, other than the fact that he sometimes doesn't pay attention in class, he's a good student."
Woody, Marcus, and Bailey nodded in agreement, and Ms. Tutweiller chimed in. "I agree. But, in school, the only thing he does is occasionally fall asleep. I've seen all of his work, and some of it he does very well on. But, Marion, how does this relate to what you were going to tell us?"
Mr. Moseby smiled a humorless smile. "Well, let's just say that, five years ago, those words would not be an accurate description of Zack Martin."
Woody spoke, a confused look on his face. "Why not?" His eyes suddenly widened. "He was replaced by aliens, wasn't he?"
Mr. Moseby glared at him. "No," he said, as if speaking to a five-year-old. "His character changed as a result of what happened to him as a kid."
Bailey looked deep in thought. "Exactly how did he change?"
The manager sighed. "Well, as you all know, Zack does occasionally pull pranks, like the one last week where he put pink dye in my showerhead."
The teens burst out laughing. "Oh my gosh!" Maya said between laughs. "That was hilarious! I still remember the look on your face!"
He glared at them until they stopped laughing. "As I was saying," he continued, a bit angry. "Zack may sometimes be rebellious, but back at the hotel, he pulled pranks almost daily. He also never paid attention in school, flirted with every girl he saw, and had practically no filter between his mouth and his brain."
The others looked at him with widened eyes. "Whoa," Maya vocalized all their thoughts. "What happened to him?"
Mr. Moseby closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'll show you. There's a tape showing what happened. But, before you see that one, there's another one you need to see first."
The others nodded and pulled up chairs, arranging them so that they were facing Mr. Moseby's small TV. Mr. Moseby walked over to the closet and pulled down a small cardboard box with the label The Tipton- Boston, Massachusetts. He grabbed a DVD from the box and popped it into the TV. The six turned their attention to the screen.
It faded from black, showing a grand room- the lobby of a hotel. There was a main area in the middle of the room with a couple of couches, who had people sitting in them, talking or reading. Behind the couches was a small main staircase, flanked on either side by a ramp, which lead to a revolving door and a pair of double doors. On the left side of the lobby, there was a pair of elevators, and on the right, a check-in desk.
Near the doors, there was a group of people standing in an un-orderly line, chatting amongst themselves quietly, while a younger-looking Mr. Moseby paced in front of them, giving directions.
"Alright, everyone," he was saying. "Our new lounge singer will be arriving soon, and I want her first impression of this hotel to be a calm, orderly place…" He trailed off, imagining the scene, then turned back to the group of people. "So pay attention!" he snapped. Everyone immediately quieted down and stood at attention, except for a teenager at the end of the line, who kept her attention on her fingernails.
Mr. Moseby approached her and repeated himself. "I said pay attention," he demanded.
On the screen, the girl looked up, and the students and Ms. Tutweiller immediately recognized her as London Tipton. She looked much younger, only about fourteen or fifteen.
London drew her attention away from her nails, crossing her arms over her chest. "Look, Moseby," she said. "I don't see why I have to be here. Besides, I have shopping to do. I've been wearing this outfit for five whole hours!"
Ms. Tutweiller smiled, seeing that the brunette heiress hadn't changed a bit.
On the tape, Mr. Moseby glared at London. "London, you-" he started to say, but was cut off by a voice from behind him saying "Excuse me?"
He turned and faced the woman who had interrupted him. She was tall, with spikey blonde hair. "May I help you?" Mr. Moseby asked with a smile.
The woman smiled back. "Yes. I'm Carey Martin, the new lounge singer. I was wondering if there was someone I should talk to?" she asked, looking at Mr. Moseby questionably.
His eyes lit up and he smiled at Carey. "Ah, yes!" he exclaimed, shaking her hand. "Hello, Carey, and welcome to the Tipton. I am the manager, Marion Moseby."
Carey smiled. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Moseby."
Mr. Moseby grabbed her hand. "I'm very glad you chose to work here at the Tipton. Now, if you'll come with me, I want to go over your contract, then I'll show you the ballroom and your new suite."
He led her over to the front desk, still talking, when suddenly a large crash came from that direction. Mr. Moseby and Carey raced over, finding a short blonde boy sitting on the front desk, a nervous expression on his face.
"Oops," the boy said when they reached him, sending Mr. Moseby a sheepish smile. "Sorry."
He made to climb off the desk, near the phone, which had been knocked to the floor, but Mr. Moseby reached it first, picking it up and placing it back on the desk.
"That's okay," he said with forced calmness. He took a deep breath. "Now, little boy, why don't you go find your parents?"
The boy smiled widely, and said, "Okay." He then hopped off the desk and- to Mr. Moseby's obvious disbelief- walked over to Carey, hugging her waist once he reached her.
Carey shot the fearful Mr. Moseby an apologetic look, and pried the boy's arms off her waist. She then placed her hands on his shoulders and looked sternly at him.
"Zack," she said sharply. "Why did you do that?"
Zack shrugged. "I just saw the phone ringing, and there was no one around, so I picked it up, but it fell down. I'm sorry, Mom."
Carey sighed at him. "Zack, you know better than that. This is our new home now. I want you to be respectful and not get into trouble, understand?"
Zack nodded. Carey gave him a smile, then turned back to Mr. Moseby.
"I'm sorry about that, Mr. Moseby," she said. "it won't happen again."
Mr. Moseby still appeared shocked. "H-he's your son?" he stuttered.
Carey looked at him sympathetically. "Yes," she said. She looked back to Zack and beckoned him forwards. He ran up and stood at her side.
"Mr. Moseby, this is my son Zack. Zack, this is Mr. Moseby. He's the manager of the hotel."
Zack looked at said man. "Y'know, Mr. Moseby? You've got a pretty nice place here."
Mr. Moseby gave Zack a half-mad, half-scared look. "Thanks… son."
Carey suddenly looked around, then turned to Zack. "Zack, where's your brother?" she asked.
Zack looked at her. "I don't know. Last I saw him-"
"Wait, stop the tape," Maya interrupted.
Mr. Moseby, who had the remote, quickly hit the pause button, then turned to Maya. She was looking at the TV in confusion.
"Did she say 'where's your brother'? Zack doesn't have a brother," she said. The others- save Mr. Moseby- nodded and voiced their agreement.
Wanting an answer, Maya turned to Mr. Moseby. "Mr. Moseby? What did she mean?"
Grimacing, Mr. Moseby simply said "You'll see," picking up the remote and pressing the play button.
"-he was going to the ballroom, where they're having some spelling bee," Zack finished, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
Ms. Tutweiller saw Maya shoot Mr. Moseby a confused look. The short man pointed back to the TV.
On the tape, Carey sighed. "Well, can you go get-" she started, but she was cut off by another person running up behind her.
"Hi, mom!" the person exclaimed.
Zack and Carey both turned around, facing another short blonde boy, with strikingly similar features to Zack. Upon seeing him, Ms. Tutweiller, Maya, Bailey, Woody, and Marcus gasped in disbelief.
"What?!" Bailey exclaimed, causing Mr. Moseby to stop the tape again, turning to face her. Her eyes were wide in shock, an expression reflected on the other four faces in the room.
"Mr. Moseby?!" she asked. "Who is that?"
He coughed, trying to put off answering the question. Everybody glared at him, Ms. Tutweiller included.
"That's Zack's brother," he said finally, in a bit of a duh tone.
"How does Zack have a brother?" Maya demanded. "He never told me about him."
Mr. Moseby sighed. "Like I said, Zack never told anyone about him. London and I are the only ones who know, since we knew them both personally."
Maya still wasn't satisfied. "Why didn't he tell anyone?"
The manager took a deep breath. "It was too painful for him to talk about."
Maya opened her mouth to ask 'Why?' again, but Mr. Moseby held up a hand and said "Just watch," in a threatening tone. Maya nodded and sank into the chair, her face still angry.
Once again, Mr. Moseby pressed 'play', and the screen unfroze.
Carey had turned to face the new arrival.
"Young man," she reprimanded. "What were you doing?"
The boy shrank back. "Sorry, Mom," he said. "I just wanted to check out the spelling bee. I want to enter some time, and thought it'd be a good idea to find out what to expect."
Zack walked over to his brother and put an arm around his neck. "Really, Broseph?" he asked, looking at the boy in disbelief.
"Wait," Maya said. Again, Mr. Moseby stopped the DVD, starting to look annoyed. He frowned at Maya.
She said, "Is Zack's brother named Joseph?"
Ms. Tutweiller thought that it was a logical assumption, so she didn't understand why Mr. Moseby was looking at Maya like she had dropped from Mars.
"Why would you think that?" said man asked slowly.
She shrugged, confused. Evidently, she didn't understand his bewilderment either. "Well, Zack called him Broseph, so I thought that his name might be Joseph."
Mr. Moseby stared at her for another moment, before he started to chuckle.
Maya looked slightly embarrassed. "Why is that so funny?"
Mr. Moseby shook his head, still chuckling. "You were just so far off."
The brunette rolled her eyes, trying to defend her assumption. "Well, it makes sense! What's his name, then?"
Mr. Moseby finally stopped laughing, then said, "Cody."
Maya's face turned disbelieving. Apparently, she was confused by Zack's irrelevant nickname, like Ms. Tutweiller was. Although, she had to admit that 'Zack and Cody' had a much better ring then 'Zack and Joseph' did.
"Cody?" Maya asked. "Why did Zack call him Broseph then?"
Mr. Moseby shrugged. "Zack had a variety of interesting names for Cody."
Ms. Tutweiller stopped paying attention there. She turned her attention back to the screen. It was unmoving, with Zack's arm slung over his brother's shoulders.
She turned her attention to Cody. It was uncanny, the amount he resembled Zack. They had the same hair, nose, face shape, and even the same smile. Cody was wearing cargo pants, with a long-sleeve shirt under a short-sleeve shirt.
Ms. Tutweiller looked between the two boys. She noticed that they were practically the same height; Cody was maybe an inch or two taller. That, combined with their faces and the way they were dressed- she had seen pictures of Zack wearing an outfit similar to Cody's when he was eleven or twelve. She suddenly thought of something.
"Mr. Moseby," she asked. "Zack and Cody, are they twins?"
The manager hesitated, then nodded.
Suddenly, Bailey gasped. Ms. Tutweiller looked over at her. Her eyes were so wide, they took up half of her face.
"What?" Ms. Tutweiller asked.
"Oh my gosh," Bailey said, ignoring her.
"What?" Maya repeated.
Bailey looked over at them. "Earlier in class today, I-I told Zack that he had no experience with t-twins. A-and he was really the one with experience."
Something clicked in Ms. Tutweiller's mind. "So that's why Zack was so upset. It has something to do with him and Cody, right?"
Mr. Moseby nodded.
Bailey was obviously thinking hard. Ms. Tutweiller could almost see the gears turning in her mind. "What happened to them?" she asked eventually.
Mr. Moseby shook his head. "You'll find out later. Now keep watching."
The others nodded, and Mr. Moseby un-paused the tape.
Cody was giving Zack an offended look.
"Hey!" he said. "Spelling bees aren't that bad!"
Zack rolled his eyes. "Sure they're not. Just like going back to school 'isn't that bad'."
Cody now looked insulted. "Going back to school is fun! The thrill of meeting new people, the excitement of getting your first homework assignment!" He drifted off into dreamland.
Zack looked completely repulsed. "I swear," he said. "We're not related!"
Cody rolled his eyes and gave his brother a light slap on the arm. Zack slapped him back, and pretty soon, it had turned into a slap fight, the twins simultaneously smacking each other.
Eventually, Carey put her arms between the two, pushing them apart.
"Alright, boys, that's enough," she scolded. The twins eventually stopped and stood still, staring up at their mom.
She stepped forward and faced Mr. Moseby, who was clearly trying to contain a look of raw horror.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Moseby. But, I'd like you to meet my other son, Cody."
Cody and Zack both ran forward, standing on either side of their mother.
Mr. Moseby looked between the two. "How do you tell them apart?"
Carey looked down at the twins herself. They stared at her with their matching smiles.
She looked back at Mr. Moseby. "Honestly, you don't, sometimes. But, Cody is a bit taller. He also likes school more, and Zack generally gets into more trouble."
"True," Cody agreed, shooting his brother a glare. Zack, however, was no longer paying attention; instead he was checking out a girl who was walking by.
Carey cleared her throat, and Zack and Cody both focused back on her. She smiled at Mr. Moseby. "Anyway, Mr. Moseby, we can look over the contract now; I'll send these two outside."
Mr. Moseby numbly nodded, and Zack and Cody immediately started racing each other to the front door. Carey watched them leave before turning back to the manager.
He stayed temporarily frozen before quietly whispering "Help me," then leading Carey into his office.
The tape ended, and the screen changed to the DVD menu. Presently, Mr. Moseby pressed the power button, and it turned dark.
Ms. Tutweiller turned to face him. His face was a bit paler than usual, but he was staring at them intently.
Maya was the first to find her voice. "Wow. That's just… wow." She finished in a small voice.
Woody nodded in agreement, but Marcus spoke for the first time. "Why was Zack being so mean to Cody?" he asked. "He's usually so nice!"
Mr. Moseby shrugged. "It's another result of what happened."
Maya groaned. "Will you stop being so mysterious and just tell us what happened?!"
The manager shook his head. "As I said earlier, you had to watch that video before the one showing what happened. I'll show you the other one soon. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to referee a shuffleboard match on the Lido Deck."
With that, he walked out of the room, leaving the others staring after him in a bewildered silence.
Hello! The second chapter is finally up! I hope it makes up for the wait. I'm sorry to anyone who wanted to hear what happened to Cody- you'll have to wait for a few chapters for that. I have most of chapter three written (I write a chapter, then post it, instead of writing them all out ahead of time), so hopefully the wait won't be too long.
Shout-out to Dolphin1234 and Lillith987 for correctly guessing that Mr. Moseby was saying "Cody's Blankey" in the last chapter.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter 1!
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Anonymous (Guest) (Thanks for pointing that out. I just thought that it was something that she might think, because she did tell Zack that she wanted to hit him with a book in Once Upon a Suite Life.)
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a beautiful misfortune
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OMG! Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I can't believe I got so many reviews on the first chapter. You guys are the best. Please continue to be awesome and review!
