CHAPTER SIX
"Max! Tapeworm!" Cody cried in excitement, the biggest grin that Bailey had ever seen on his face. He rushed forward and gave the girl and the boy a hug before letting go and letting them enter the room, closing the door behind them.
"What are you guys doing here?" Zack asked as he turned and leaned against the door. He wasn't smiling, and if it wasn't for Zack giving them a hug before they entered the room, I would have thought that he wasn't happy to see them at all. But as I studied Zack's face, I could see that he was worried about something.
"We got on the ship as soon as we heard some interesting news." Max replied as she brushed her long wavy brown hair out of her face before noticing Bailey. "Dude, who's this?"
"Is this your girlfriend, Cody?" Tapeworm asked as he turned and grinned at his friend. I smiled a little as Cody blushed and started to babbly something intelligent, but it wasn't working. So I decided to speak up and help him.
"Hi," I thrust my hand out towards the two of them. "I'm Bailey Pickett."
"Nice to meet you," Tapeworm grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously. "I'm Tapeworm and this is my girlfriend, Max."
"Girlfriend?" Zack looked interested as he raised an eyebrow. He turned to Max and pointed a finger back and forth between the two of them. "You two are dating?" he looked genuinely interested, but I could also tell that he was a little annoyed. "Since when?"
"Hey, you hang around someone for a while and your feelings start to change." Max replied with a shrug, as if it wasn't important. She looked at him intently, as if she was trying to tell him something and Zack's eyes flashed with anger before he opened his mouth.
"So, your name is actually Tapeworm?" I asked as I turned to the curly headed boy, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible. He must have noticed, for he smiled and chuckled a bit before replying.
"Actually, my name is Christopher," he replied and I smiled. I always liked that name. "My nickname is Tapeworm because I can eat twenty hotdogs in two minutes."
"Well, you should see," I laughed a little. "Back at Kettlecorn, my family holds the record of being able to eat the most coleslaw in a minute." I sighed as I remembered everything that had been going on back home at Kettlecorn. "You should have seen it," I giggled fondly. "Mayonnaise and lettuce chunks flying around and that was just from Porkers."
"You don't get out much do you?" Max asked after a second of silence.
I wasn't sure what she meant by that, but it couldn't have been that good. Sure, Kettlecorn was a really small town, and there really wasn't much to do. I mean, the internet just got there so that's what my grandmother and my sisters were on all the time. But I had fun going into town sometimes. But as time went on, I realized that I had wanted to go out and see the world and that's where my application for the SS Tipton came in.
I shouldn't have been offended, as I had heard people saying stuff like that a lot, but I couldn't help it.
"Not to start another war here," Cody raised his hands, trying to get everyone's attention before he gave Max and Tapeworm his full attention. "Why did you guys leave Boston?" Max and Tapeworm looked at each other in hesitation before looking over at me. "Don't worry, she knows everything."
"Everything?" Max repeated, looking skeptical.
"Well, not everything," I replied quickly. "I don't understand a lot of things about this elemental stuff, but I'm smart, I can get it." I don't know why I was pleading with them; I guess I didn't really want to be left out.
"Are you sure?" Tapeworm didn't look skeptical, he just seemed genuinely concerned. "We don't want you to get hurt of anything." Max muttered something under her breath and Tapeworm elbowed her in the side, sharply.
"Guys, you can trust, Bailey." Cody replied firmly. "I do."
"That doesn't mean that Riley, Rhuben, or Crystal will." Max pointed out as she raised an eyebrows.
"Well, there's not here right now." Cody replied sharply. I had never heard him speak to anyone like that before and it let me know that what was going on was serious, and that it really wasn't a joke or a dream. "We have to know, what's going on back at Boston."
"Boston isn't safe anymore." Max replied grimly.
"What about mom and dad?" Zack demanded, finally moving away from the door and grabbing on to her shoulders. "Are they ok? Have you gone and visited them?"
"Relax," Tapeworm gently pushed his friend back. "Your mom and dad are fine, you didn't let Max finish." He smiled. "We did what you asked and checked on your mom and dad a lot, up until recently at least. Koto and Reihu are following you guys around, we know that. But Caos and Kuroko are still back at Boston, trying to hold down the fort there and see if there are any elementals that they can capture there."
"What happened?" Cody asked, he had an expression of horror on his face.
"They were following us around for a while," Tapeworm replied with a heavy sigh. "To the Tipton when we would go see your mom and Maddie, and when we went to see your dad. They didn't do a lot when people were around, but soon they didn't care and started attacking us whenever we got the chance." He shook his head. "I don't like the idea of that, it means that there's something that they're trying to keep us from finding out about."
"So why don't you just get the information from them?" I suggested after hearing their story. Max snorted.
"So what do you expect us to do, princess?" Max sneered as she rolled her eyes. (I don't think she's much of a people's person. "Just waltz up to them and say 'hey, what's up? Can you tell me why you're distracting us'?"
"Whoever said that you needed to ask them to their face?" I asked as I tilted my head to the side.
"You have a plan?" Zack asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
I snorted as I brushed my hair behind my shoulders. "If I can build a self-energizing robot that will recognize voice patterns and can cook a mean steak by scratch, then I can make a plan."
I smiled as the thoughts already formed in my head.
A/N: Story picks up after this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.
