CHAPTER THREE


So, what I have a least of reasons as to why Zack and Cody are in trouble; 1) they sneak off whenever we go to a different country. 2) They always come back looking beaten up. 3) Cody never pairs up with Zack when it comes to doing projects and now he is. 5) When I asked him about his project, he said that he didn't have an idea, but Miss. Tutweiller said he did. 6) I found him and Zack researching something called elementals.

Ok, so most of the reasons on that list coincides with each other, but it's still weird, you've gotta admit that it's weird. I mean, it's a week after our projects were assigned and Zack and Cody were acting even more suspicious. I've asked Woody, Marcus, and London if they had noticed anything was different. Marcus had noticed that they were acting a little bit more distant than they usually were, and he didn't hear Moseby yelling at Zack as much. Woody was kind of sad because he was bored; he and Zack usually got into schemes together and now that Zack was acting distant, there really wasn't much that he could do besides eat. And London…was London she somehow found a way to change the conversation to an insult to use against me.

I really should have seen it coming.

Anyway, we're docking in Venice, Italy today before we continue on to Greece, and Miss. Tutweiller is giving us time to explore the city a little bit. I knew that today was going to be the day that something was going to happen. I don't know how and I can't really explain it, but I knew that something weird was going to happen today.

"So, what do you guys want to do when we get to Venice?" I asked my friends as we sat on the sky deck.

"How about we-"

"London, not all of us can afford to go shopping." I interrupted before she could use her annoying 'go shopping' voice. Just like she always did whenever we got to a new country. Don't get me wrong, I can buy souvenirs and stuff because of the money that I had saved up. But that didn't mean that I didn't get jealous because London could buy whatever clothes she wanted.

"Well, let's just walk around and see what we can find," Marcus suggested as he leaned back in his chair. "Why do we always have to schedule things?"

"Because schedules make for a happy person," Cody explained, sounding more like himself. He even seemed more excited to be going to Venice. "I mean, if you have schedules then you can get your work done on time and leave time for being able to do what you want." He beamed. "If I didn't have a schedule for my school work, I wouldn't be able to do Advanced Differential Equations."

"You call that fun?" Zack asked as he looked at his twin brother with raised eyebrows."I have more fun picking off my scabs, and those hurt."

I made a face of disgust as I tried to ignore the rush of nausea. It shouldn't have surprised me, Zack was never one to be tactful and he didn't really care if he grossed people out, it was just the way that he was…when he wasn't vain or trying to pick up girls.

"Well, at least Bailey understands how Advanced Differential Equations can be." Cody stated and beamed over at me; I couldn't help but smile back. But I still knew that he had lied to me and that he was hiding something.

"Yeah, you two make such a great couple," London replied, barely hiding her boredom as she walked off.


"Hey Marcus, come check out these CD's!" I called as I picked up a case of some popular Italian singer in my hand. I knew that Marcus would be immediately interested, as he was the famous rapper Lil' Little. And he loved anything that had to do with music.

"What kind of music is this?" Marcus asked as he made a face, listening to the music that was blaring over the through the store.

"I think it's beautiful," I stated as I smiled and gently swayed to the music. "It's really something that you could listen to whenever you wanted."

"Yeah yeah, but what they need is a little taste of Lil' Little." Marcus replied as he blew on his knuckles and rubbed them across his chest. I rolled my eyes as I watched him walk off to try and talk to the manager of the store. I know that he didn't know Italian so that would be interesting. But it was also the fact that he did this in every country that we went to that also made it kind of annoying.

But Marcus is a sweet person and will do anything for his friends. He fit into our weird group pretty easily. London was nowhere to be found, probably getting some original Giorgio Armani stuff from Giorgio Armani himself. It wouldn't surprise me at all, the only good thing is that London gives me some of the clothes that are last season or that she doesn't want. She says that she's helping me get rid of my 'ridiculous-clown-looking-farm-clothes'. But I like to think of it in a less insulting way, trying to help boost my self-esteem. Because London's comments can really hurt sometimes.

"Hey, where are Zack and Cody?" I asked out loud, not realizing that they weren't with us. Neither was Woody for that matter. Some Italians looked at me with odd expressions on their faces and I quickly made a face of apology before leaving the little shop and looking around. I spotted Woody walking towards me, snacking on some pastry thing. "Hey, Woody, have you seen Zack and Cody?"

"Yeah, they're right behind me, we stopped to get something to eat," Woody replied as he motioned behind him with his shoulder, still shoving the pastry into his mouth.

I looked over Woody's shoulder and saw that he was right. But as I watched, Zack and Cody stopped walking and stiffened suddenly, as if they had heard something and looked around nervously, but also looked like they were expecting it too.

"Hey guys, we have to go and….find a gift for mom," Zack stated, jerking his thumb back over his shoulder as Cody nodded in agreement. "So we'll just meet you guys back at the boat later. I mean, you don't want to wait around for us while we shop."

"I'll come with you guys." I offered as I started to walk towards them. Zack's face was clear, but Cody's looked scared and impatient. "I mean," I giggled a little bit to ease the tension that was in the air. "You're going to need a woman's touch aren't you?"

"Not really," Zack smiled and slapped his brother on the shoulder. "Cody already acts like a girl and he's sensitive to their feelings and stuff," he rolled his eyes. "So we don't really need your help. So you should just go away. Right now."

"Zack!" Cody hissed.

"What's going on?" I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest and staring right at Cody, knowing that he hated to lie.

"Trust is, Bailey, we…uh, we," Cody started to snap his fingers, as if that would help him remember what he was trying to say. "Truth is that we want to keep it a total and complete surprise, even from you! You know how our mom and dad just came to the SS Tipton randomly last time? I wouldn't want that to happen again while we're talking about her gift."

"Oh," I replied as I slowly lowered my arms and gave an understanding smile. "Yeah, I understand, go on ahead."

"Thanks Bailey," Cody patted my shoulder gently before turning around and walked away, with Zack at his side. "We'll meet you guys back at the ship later."

"Later!" Woody called through a full mouth. I winced as some of the pastry that was in his mouth splattered on my face. "Oops, sorry Bailey."

"It's ok, Woody." I replied sarcastically as I gently wiped at my face. "If you wanted to share the pastry with me, you should have at least asked me first." When I was done clearing off my face I saw Zack and Cody running back down the street and disappeared around the corner.

Now that was really odd, as there were no shops over there that we could afford anything from. And the only way that I knew that was because of the fact that it had taken London hours to get out of that district before finding Giorgio Armani and going off with him.

I was too suspicious of everything that was going to listen to the part of me that was yelling for me not to go off after them. In Venice there were a lot of stories of people being mugged and having their things stolen, but right now I didn't care. I just wanted to find out what Zack and Cody were hiding from us, their friends.

"Woody, what shop did you get that from?" I asked, turning to the curly haired boy. He carelessly pointed over his shoulder. I nodded and turned and ran down the street after Zack and Cody, not caring is Woody saw that I wasn't actually going into the bakery.

I had to find out what was going on.

I ran aimlessly down the street, taking random turns that went down even more empty streets and over a bridge where I saw a gondola gently moving across the canal. It was weird, I didn't know where I was going, but, I felt that I did know. It was like my body was telling me that what I was doing was the right thing.

It's Time…

I skidded to a stop and looked around in confusion. I could have sworn that I just heard someone say that, but there was no one around. It was then that I realized that I was in a random alleyway, not sure what was going on. I jumped and screamed at the sound of someone crashing into trashcans. Turning around, I saw a blonde haired boy dressed in a black leather jacket, a white t-shirt, and dark blue jeans hauling himself to his feet. A smaller boy with brown hair and wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans suddenly appeared beside him; both of them were glaring up towards the sky.

I tilted my head back and gasped as Zack and Cody jumped off of the roof of the building that was to my right and landed on the ground, on their feet, as if the fall didn't hurt them.

'That's impossible' I thought to myself, eyes wide with shock. 'No one can jump from that high without breaking their bones and being in extreme pain. What's going on?'

"You have nowhere else t go, Koto" Zack snarled as he and Cody slowly moved forward, hands clenched into fists at their sides. "So you might as well give up now."

"Koto?" I whispered, instantly recognizing the so0und.

"Heh," the blonde boy flicked his head to the side, clenching his hands into fists too as he sank into a fighting stance. "You're mistaken if you think that you'll get the best of me that easily." Cody chuckled.

"We've beaten you before, we can surely do it again." He called with a hint of cockiness.

"We'll see about that," the smaller boy replied before charging towards Cody, his hands outstretched. It was then that I noticed that his nails were longer and sharper than finger nails usually were. "Hiya!"

Cody lay down on his back and brought his feet up as the smaller boy dove at him. Using his feet, Cody brought his legs up towards his face, using the force to throw the little boy behind him and onto the ground. Koto sighed as he rubbed his face.

"Reihu, how many times do I or Core have to tell you, make sure that you wait for your opponent to make the first move?" Koto stated as he placed his hands on his hips.

"Don't worry, I can get him!" Reihu replied bravely, as he easily flipped back to his feet. I gasped a little bit and his head whipped around towards me. "Hey, who's this!" he called.

Zack whirled around and his eyes widened when he saw me. Cody turned around and didn't look surprised at all.

What the hell was going on?


So what did you guys think of this chapter? Now its getting to the point and Bailey knows that something is definitely going on. But why did Zack look surprised about Bailey being there and Cody not? If you really want to know you'll review because reviews makes me update faster. Thanks for reading! ^-^

-Riley