Episode 6

"Just When You Thought It Was Safe"

I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did.

Wait...In this story, I created some of the characters, so I will actually own them.

Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves.

And as to the ones I create, who they are is up to me, so...

Boston

Once Maya's last class of the day ended and all of the kids headed to the locker rooms to change, she began straightening up the pool area of everything she had used in her class. In twenty minutes, the pool was scheduled to reopen for other users, so it needed to be in pristine condition for them. And as she was cleaning up, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Jumping and shrieking in surprise, she turned around to find Zack standing there smiling at her.

"Its just me, Babe..."

She began patting her chest. "Zack? You scared me half to death!"

He just kept smiling though. "Sorry about that."

Maya took a deep breath to calm herself. "Its alright. Next time, just tell me you're here so I don't have a heart attack before I turn 20..."

"Well, we definitely don't want that. I mean - why would I want to deprive myself of the view I saw. I watched you through the window teaching your class, and I've never wanted to be five years old again so much in my whole life..."

She smiled at him. "Thank you...I think, but I prefer you just the way you are. Besides, these aquatards they make us wear aren't the most flattering things in the world..."

Zack looked her up and down. "Yeah, right...I had to pick my tongue up off the floor when I first saw you in it..."

Maya blushed a little but kept smiling. "Zack..."

"Its true..." He paused. "Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one taking the moment to check you out. I saw the old muscle for brains staring at you from a window across the way..."

She sighed. "Great...There have been times where I felt like I've been watched before, but I wasn't for sure. I guess I was right after all..."

He smiled again. "But I wouldn't worry about that anymore if I were you. I don't think he'll be doing anything like that ever again. In fact, I have a hunch that Bruno won't be bothering you any more period."

"That would be nice, but how can you be so sure..."

Zack just grinned. "Oh...I have my ways."

She just looked at him. "What did you do, Zack?"

"Me? Nothing. But your boss snuck up behind me and began grilling me as to why I was here and what I was doing. I guess she thought I was some kind of pervert or something, so I wasn't too offended. Anyways, when I explained that I was your boyfriend, she was a little confused. Seems ol' Bruno was telling her some lies about you and making up stories. He actually asked her if it was okay to ask you out even though he knew all about me. Well, as we were talking, I happened to glance over and saw him spying on you again. I pointed it out to her and mentioned other things you told me had done. Well, hearing all of that and catching him in the act, she stormed over to confront him. I couldn't hear what was said exactly, but I did see her grab his ear and drag him away as she yelled at him..."

Maya sighed. "Zack, I truly do appreciate you standing up for me like that. I'm just afraid it could completely backfire on me. I just hope it doesn't cause any problems around here. I really do like this job..."

"I think the only one in trouble around here is Bruno. His aunt had nothing bet the best things to say about you and how invaluable you are around this place."

She looked at him in surprise. "Really? She said that?"

Zack grinned. "Really. I told her that as good of an instructor you were that you were an even better girlfriend. I did refrain from mentioning the private lessons and mouth to mouth you gave me though..."

Maya smiled. "Thanks, Babe. I appreciate that. And you're a pretty great boyfriend yourself." She took a deep breath. "How about I go change and we'll get out of here?"

He looked her up and down one more time. "Do you have to?"

She just began laughing. "You're incorrigible." She leaned in and kissed him. "But keep saying things like that to me, and I won't try to stop you..."

"Good. Oh, and call it a hunch, but I don't think you'll have any problems getting spring break off from work now. Something tells me they might be very willing to work with you now as they probably think they have something to make up to you for. Plus, with ol' Bruno caught red handed, their probably afraid of you suing them or something."

"Well, I wouldn't do that, but I won't turn down any extra perks." She winked at him. "And if you like this thing, just wait to you see the bikini I'll have for spring break..." And with that, Maya headed off for the locker room.

Zack swallowed as he watched her walk away. "I don't care what I have to do...Nothing will stop me from making sure we have the best spring break ever!"

New Haven

That evening, while Cody and Bailey were out having a date night together, Gertie and Tapeworm were just hanging around his room taking it easy. After a little while, Tapeworm turned to his girlfriend.

"So, not that I'm complaining about what we're doing, but was there anything else you wanted to do tonight?"

Gertie paused. "You know. I don't feel like doing much of anything tonight at all. I know its Friday night, but I spent all afternoon talking with my architecture adviser, and it was a complete and exhausting pain in the butt. Would it be okay if we just hung around here and did nothing tonight?"

Tapeworm smiled. "So sitting back and channel surfing?"

She smiled back. "That would be great."

"How about I head across the street and pick us up a pie then? If we're going to bum around, we might as well do this right."

"Sounds perfect to me. You're the best, Dennis..."

He teased her. "Well, I gotta do something to keep you hanging around me..."

She teased him right back. "Just keep doing what you're doing, and you'll have no worries about that..."

Tapeworm pulled out his phone to order in the pizza, and when he was done, he checked the fridge in the room and frowned. "The new drinks I put in earlier this afternoon aren't cold yet, and bottled water just doesn't go well with pizza. I'll stop at the store too and grab us some cold drinks while I'm out."

Gertie shook her head. "Nope, you leave that to me. Getting us some drinks is the least I can do. I'll head over to Durfee and grab us something for dessert too. So, you go grab the pizza, and I'll take care of the rest."

He grinned. "I know what I want for dessert..." He leaned in and kissed her. "More of that sweetness..."

She laughed. "We'll see. But I do love the way you think..."

"Works for me..." Tapeworm dug into his pocket and handed her his keys. "Here, you'll probably be back before I will. And after what Cody and Bailey told us earlier about that creep neighbor of ours, I don't want you having to wait out in the hallway anymore than you have too..."

She kissed his cheek. "Good idea. Thank you, Dennis. See you in a few minutes."

Gertie headed downstairs, and fifteen minutes later, she was back on the guy's floor carrying a bag from the campus store. As she found the key to the guys' room to unlock it, she heard someone whistling behind her. Turning, she saw a guy leering at her.

"Well, well...we've got all kinds of hotties on the hallway today. Must be my lucky day..."

Figuring it was Paul, she decided to ignore him. Gertie just turned back to the door and finished unlocking it.

But he was not to be deterred. "What? Do we have a shy one here?"

Gertie sighed before turning and smirking at him. "No, but I have no interest in talking to you. I've already heard all about you, Paul. Besides, I already have a boyfriend I care about a great deal. So, save your mindless flirting and other cheap pick up lines on someone who cares or is stupid enough to believe them..."

Paul laughed. "You must be dating the tall geek then. What is it with the two guys who live there? Both of them have total babes for girlfriends. Are they both loaded or something?"

She rolled her eyes. "No...both Dennis and Cody are really great guys who know how to treat women right. They're both kind and friendly, and neither are jerks. Must be why they are both so well liked around here. Maybe there's a lesson there for you...you know, something you should think about..."

"Why should I? Girls are like buses. If you miss one, another one will be along in a few minutes. And why would I want to act like a goody goody? That's no fun, and besides, most girls like the mysterious bad boy anyways..."

Gertie laughed. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that. But don't be surprised when you find out its not true..." And with that, Gertie headed into the room and locked the door behind her. About five minutes later, Tapeworm returned and was surprised that the door was locked. He knocked on the door, and Gertie checked the peephole before opening it. And immediately, Tapeworm could see Gertie had an upset look on her face.

"Everything okay?"

She sighed. "On my way back to your room, I had the misfortune of meeting your new neighbor, Paul, that Bailey and Cody had told us about..."

Tapeworm frowned. "Did he say or do something to bother you?"

Gertie shook her head. "Other than be a complete and total jerk, not really. Nothing I shouldn't have seen coming anyways..." She walked up to him and hugged him tightly. "Thank you."

He just held her close. "For what?"

"For not being anything like him. Bailey was right, he seriously gave me the creeps. You should have heard the opinion he has of women..."

He pulled back and looked at her. "Listen to me. If he does anything like that again, tell me, and I'll have a word with him. I don't want you to have to worry about things like that. I may not be the most imposing person in the world, but no one upsets you and gets away with it with me around..."

She smiled at him. "I appreciate the sentiment, but lets just forget about him. I refuse to let him ruin our evening. I mean we have a hot pizza, cold drinks and remote control itching to be used. What more could we ask for?"

Boston

After changing back into her regular clothes, Maya found Zack waiting for her out by the front door. They were about to head outside when Zack stopped them, and he just had a huge grin on his face.

"What?"

"Seeing you earlier distracted me, and I forgot to mention to you that I have a surprise for you tonight..."

"Oh yeah? And what would that be?"

"I may have gotten my hands on a couple of tickets for us to see the Sox play tonight..."

She smiled. "That's great. I..." She paused. "Wait a minute. Aren't they playing the Rays tonight?"

He grinned even wider. "Exactly! With the Yankees and Rays in a first place tie and the Sox a couple of games back, I can't see you actively rooting for the Rays tonight." He grinned. "In fact, I might actually get to see you rooting for the Red Sox for the first time ever!"

Maya shuddered. "That would feel soooo wrong and dirty to do that. Can't I root for both teams to lose?"

Zack laughed. "Hey, remember I bought you that Manning jersey. You want to talk about something feeling wrong and dirty to do? That took the cake. Besides, if that didn't kill me, I don't think rooting for the Sox once will kill you either..."

"Well, I suppose you're right. And it is a beautiful night for a ball game..."

"So, does that mean you're game...for the game?"

She smiled. "I suppose so. How did you get tickets anyways?"

He shrugged. "London gave them to me. She gets her father's seats when he's not in town, and she and Todd have some kind of gala opening to go to tonight. So, she asked me if I wanted them."

Maya just looked at him. "Mr. Tipton's seats? Okay, these I have to see! I can't imagine how good they are..."

"Tell me about it. I wish she had mentioned she had these back when I was younger. Cody and I would have been all over them. If they are as good as I think they'll be, I wouldn't have cared if Moseby had to go with us..."

"Yeah, I remember you telling me about that game he took you both too."

He just looked at her. "Don't get any ideas about trying to do the same thing to cost the Sox a game..."

Maya laughed. "I won't. But Zack, don't think that this will in any way try to sway me away from being a Yankee fan."

"A guy can dream, can't he?"

"Well, in this case, that guy can keep dreaming. Cody may be converting Bailey, but you have absolutely no chance here. I'm a Yankee gal and always will be - I'll never be a Sox fan!"

Zack just smiled. "Never say never..."

New Haven

About eleven o'clock that night, Cody and Bailey returned back to their dorm after a nice romantic dinner and long walk around campus. And when they walked into Cody's room, they found Tapeworm and Gertie lounging around watching TV with an empty pizza box on the table in front of them.

Bailey smiled. "I see you guys have had a rough night..."

Gertie laughed. "Oh, you know it. How about you guys?"

"Dinner was good, and we had a wonderful time just strolling through campus enjoying the beautiful weather. On the way back though, we noticed that the local theater is showing The Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight. I've heard how crazy those can get, so I'm trying to talk Cody into going to see it. I figure its one of those things you have to see once to actually believe."

"Yeah, I've heard about that too but never saw it either. And I've heard its something everyone should experience once in their lives. Would you guys mind if we tagged along with you?"

Tapeworm perked up at hearing that. "Huh? You really want to go see that movie?"

Gertie smiled at him. "Uh huh. You wouldn't mind going to see it with me, would you?"

He sighed. "Well, I guess not...but don't expect me to dress up for it!"

Cody spoke up. "I told Bailey the exact same thing..."

Bailey just turned and winked at him. "Which is ironic knowing your past history of dressing up in women's clothing..."

He looked back at her. "Really? You want to go there...Mr. Pickett?"

She laughed. "Touche...Anyways, it should be a lot of fun."

Gertie stood up. "Yeah, it should. I just need to go change into something to head out in. Pajama pants, while I'd probably fit right in, aren't my idea of going out attire." She paused. "I just hope I can head up to our room and back without running into the guy's new neighbor, Paul..."

Bailey shuddered. "I take it you ran into him too, huh?"

"Yeah, and you were absolutely right. He's a grade A creep. I hate to say it, but I hope he runs into a woman who has less self restraint than I do. He could stand to be taught a lesson or two..."

"He'll get no sympathy from me if he does. Actually, I might be leading the cheers if it ever happened..." Bailey was about to say something else when her phone began vibrating. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw it was her mother calling. Quickly, she turned to Cody. "Mind if I use your room real quick? Its Momma..."

He smiled at her. "Go for it. I'll just watch the Sox game out here while you do."

Gertie spoke up. "And Tapeworm and I'll will get changed while you're on the phone..."

Bailey stepped into Cody's room before hitting the talk button on her phone.

"Momma? You're calling kind of late. Is everything okay at home?"

Eunice laughed. "Yeah, everything is fine, Honey. Actually, I'm calling because things are going great around here. We just found out some really big news tonight..."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Well, you remember how your sister, Amy, took the SAT test this June while you were here over Father's Day?"

Bailey nodded. "Yeah, I helped her study for it. What about it?"

"Well, turns out you and her are an awful lot alike in one way in particular. She nailed that test too..."

"Tell her I said congratulations then. That's impressive considering she's only starting her junior year of high school..." Bailey paused as something else crossed her mind. "Did she do better on the SAT than I did?"

"Honey, I honestly don't know, but you both absolutely destroyed it. Anyways, the thing is she is starting to get letters from some of the big schools up around you guys like Yale, Brown and Harvard. In fact, those letters coming in is how we learned about all of this in the first place. Well, tonight, we all sat around the kitchen table and talked about what it could mean. Amy really wants to go away to school like you did, so she really wants to check them out to see if she likes them. So...I was wondering..."

Bailey smiled. "Amy is more than welcome to stay with me while she checks out Yale. I'm almost positive Gertie won't mind us having a guest for a couple of days either."

Eunice sighed in relief. "Thank you, Honey. I know she was really bummed out that Seven Seas High shut down before she got a chance to go herself. I appreciate you being willing to help out here."

"Not a problem. In fact, I have a better idea. If she's agreeable to it and you all don't mind, why doesn't she come up right before Thanksgiving? We can show her around Yale, and she can sit in on our Friday class to get an idea about they are like up here. And then she can ride with us back to Boston. We can go through Providence on the way so she can see Brown, and then she can see Harvard while in Boston over break. And Amy can join us for Thanksgiving there at the Tipton too. It will be nice to have some family around, and she can finally get to meet some of the people I've told you all so much about."

"Sounds like a wonderful idea to me, Bailey. You sure Cody won't mind cooking for one more?"

Bailey laughed. "I'm positive. Besides Amy being his future sister-in-law, he always cooks way too much food as it is."

"Good. I'll tell Amy the plan then. I just know she'll be thrilled!"

"Well, once she knows more about when she'll get here, just let me know. Cody and I will pick her up at the airport ourselves."

"Will do. Alright, I'll let you get back to whatever it is you were doing. Tell Cody we all said hello and hope all is well with him too. Goodnight, Bailey."

Bailey ended the call and walked back into the guys' common room where Cody was sitting on the futon watching the Red Sox game.

He just shook his head. "You know, Bails...I could have swore I just saw Zack and Maya sitting right behind home plate..."

"Yeah? Who's winning anyways?"

Cody shook his head again. "No one yet. Its the bottom of the ninth. If the Sox don't score here, we're looking at extra innings..." He shrugged. "Anyways, is everything okay back in Kettlecorn?"

She smiled. "Actually it is, but I need you to do me a few favors..."

"Just name them..."

Boston

Zack and Maya joined the remaining fans walking out of Fenway Park about 2:30 Saturday morning. But while everyone was tired, they were almost all in good spirits as the Red Sox had pulled out a victory in the bottom of the 23rd inning.

Zack let out a tired laugh. "Look at it this way. We got to basically see two and a half games for the price of one..."

Maya shook her head. "Which wouldn't have been bad if there had been any offense whatsoever for the last fifteen innings. I swear I think they were going to start asking fans in the stands to come down and pitch."

"And I would have jumped at the chance!"

"I know you would have. And you would be joining your brother in the ranks of people having surgery, only yours would have been of the Tommy John variety" She smiled at him. "But I have to admit. Of all possible outcomes, this works out the best for my Yankees. Not only did the Rays lose, but both teams' pitching staffs are now completely worn out. Odds are both teams could drop the next several games, and the Yankees' lead will only grow."

Zack tried to shush her. "Don't say that too loudly! You are in a crowd of Sox fans after all..."

She laughed again. "You know what's really crazy? I'm a New York sports fan, but I generally like the city of Boston. Its seems so close together. Just look at BU. A couple of blocks one way is Harvard. A couple of blocks the other way is Northeastern. New York is just so spread out with Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. Each one of the boroughs seems like a whole different world unto itself..."

He laughed. "Yeah, well you haven't been to Southie here in Boston yet. Its like a completely different place. If you want to hear some real Boston accents, go there. Its where the letter 'R' goes to die..."

"No thanks. I just know the words 'wicked awesome' will never come out of my mouth..." She yawned. "But I am glad its now the weekend. Getting up for class...later this morning would completely suck."

"Or to go to work." He paused. "Why don't you just come back to the Tipton tonight? We'll sleep in, grab some lunch and head over to the park afterwards to enjoy one of the last days of semi-warm weather we'll have left."

Maya paused to consider that. "You know. That does sound like a good idea..." She teased him. "It has been a while since I beat you in some hoops. I'll just need to stop by my dorm room to pack a small bag."

So, they left Fenway and headed back to Maya's dorm. Unfortunately, as soon as they walked in, Zack was prevented from going anywhere further than the lobby by the rather large security guard standing there blocking his path.

"No males beyond this point after midnight."

Zack just looked at the guy, and decided not to mess with him. This guy didn't look like one he could sweet talk like he could have with Kirby. Maya just smiled though.

"Don't worry, Rosie, he'll wait right here." She turned to Zack. "I'll be back in five to ten minutes tops."

Maya quickly headed up the stairs to her floor and down the hallway to her room. And just as she was about to open the door, she heard a voice behind her.

"About time you got back to your room!"

Maya turned and gasped as she saw a very angry Bruno glaring at her.

New Haven

Walking back from the movie theater, Cody, Bailey, Gertie and Tapeworm were all laughing at the absurdity of what they had just experienced. And Bailey couldn't help but to tease Cody.

"I think I have an idea for our Halloween costumes this year. We just need to find you some fishnet stockings."

Cody just looked at her before shaking his head. "Uh uh. Nope. Not gonna happen. The idea is to scare people not scar them for life!"

She laughed. "Awww..."

He leaned in and whispered to her. "Now, if we could get some for you..."

Bailey playfully slapped his shoulder as she continued laughing. However, all laughter stopped once they got back to their dorm. Outside of the entrance were two campus police cars with their lights flashing. And standing at the front door was an officer. When they approached the door, he stopped them all from entering.

"Sorry folks. No entrance here."

"But we live here..."

He paused and pulled out a clipboard with a list on it. "Names?"

Once all four of them gave their names and showed their student IDs, the officer checked them all off. "Alright, can you all verify your whereabouts for the past two hours?"

The four of them all looked at each other. "Yeah, we were at the midnight movie down the street. We can show you our ticket stubs to prove it."

"Lets see them."

And once they presented them, he scribbled down some notes on the list. Tapeworm finally spoke up. "Can you tell us what's going on here?"

He looked up at them. "Somebody dressed all in black with a ski mask broke into a young woman's room and tried to assault her this evening..."

To be Continued...

AN: I'm having basketball withdrawals this weekend. Shouldn't there be more games on to watch? Oh well, at least there is the Masters. Happy Easter everyone.