Chapter Ten – More Discussions

The next day, Cody was woken up by his alarm clock at 6:30. He had asked Carey to drive him (for the sixth time), so he could get to school early. "Shut off your darn alarm!" Zack yelled, irritatedly. He had his set for 7:00 so he would have just enough time to eat and catch the bus.

"I got it!" Cody said, shutting it off.

"Why're you getting up this early, anyway?" Zack asked.

"Mom's driving me to school early. I'm meeting Barbara at the library."

"Oh. Well, see ya in class," Zack said, closing his eyes.

"See ya, lazy," Cody said. He finished putting on his clothes and walked into the living room. Carey, as usual, wasn't awake yet. Usually, she didn't wake up until after Zack and Cody left. "Mom! Wake up! You promised to drive me to school early!"

"Ok. Alright," Carey said, tiredly. "I'm getting up." While Cody ate, she went to the bathroom and changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants and somewhat combed her hair. Cody brushed his teeth and combed his hair after he was done eating. Carey and Cody left for school about five minutes before Zack's alarm went off. Cody was at school before Barbara, so he read a book while he waited for her to show up. She showed up after about ten minutes.

"Hi Barbara," Cody said, greeting her.

"Hello Cody," Barbara replied. "How was your weekend?"

"Chaotic."

"Oh. Why? And why are you grounded? You said it's a long story. We have plenty of time."

"Yeah. Well, it all started the day we got to high school. Do you remember that Seth kid inviting Zack to a party?"

"Yeah. Zack decided to invite all of us, and Max and I couldn't go."

"Yeah. Well, the party was where all the trouble started." And he went on to tell Barbara about the party. He told her about how he decided to quit going.

"Good for you!" Barbara said.

He continued to talk, telling her about how Zack had decided (without telling him) to keep going, and how Zack had convinced Tapeworm to keep going. He finished with Tapeworm's stay in the hospital.

"Oh my," Barbara said, shocked. "I'm glad to hear he's okay. Does Max know?"

"Tapeworm's telling Max sometime today," Cody said.

"Oh. That's good. She deserves to know."

"Yeah. He wasn't going to tell her."

"He wasn't going to?"

"No. He said something along the lines of 'what she doesn't know won't hurt her', but we convinced him that she'd probably be really mad if she found out from someone other than him."

"Yeah. I know I'd be."

"Yeah..." Cody said, trailing off. Just then, the bell rang. "Well, we -"

"Should get to homeroom!" Barbara said, finishing his sentence. They got their backpacks and left the library, holding hands.

"See you in class!" Cody said, as they got to Barbara's homeroom. They kissed and she walked into homeroom and sat down. Cody then walked down to his homeroom.

Later on... Tapeworm and Max had the same study hall. They requested to go to the library and sat in the same quiet spot that Cody and Barbara had sat in earlier.

"Hello. How was your weekend, Maxine?" Tapeworm asked, avoiding the topic that they had come to discuss.

"My weekend was pretty good, Marvin," Max said. "I'm going to just get straight to the point. Why are you grounded?"

"Uh. You're going to think I'm stupid," Tapeworm said, hesitating.

"No,I won't. We all make mistakes!"

"Yeah, well I made a pretty large one."

"What did you do?"

"Well... Remember the party that Seth invited us to at the beginning of the year?"

"Vaguely. Barbara and I couldn't go."

"Well, the party was where all the troubles began," Tapeworm said, and he told her all about the first party. He told her about how Tyler Stone died at the party.

"Oh yeah. I remember hearing about that. He was a senior, right?" Mad asked.

"Yeah. He was. So, Cody decided not to keep going to the parties, but Zack and I did."

"Why?"

"Seth convinced us it wasn't dangerous. He gave us some really stupid reasons and we believed him."

"Ok, continue with the story, Marvin," she said, frowning. He could tell Max didn't think he was an absolute idiot.

Tapeworm continued telling her about the rest of the parties. He told her about how he had a bad feeling before going to the party on Friday, but decided to go anyways because Zack nagged him. He told her about the party and how he passed out and how Zack called an ambulance. "Zack's probably going to be in trouble with Seth and Eli, because they didn't want him to call," Tapeworm said.

"Why?" Max asked.

"Apparently, the parties aren't exactly legal. And they didn't think I need to to the hospital, either. Zack was the only one who really thought I was in any real danger. He was right. I could have died, apparently."

"Yeah. These parties are dangerous. Coraline had us read an article on them."

"Us?"

"Cody, Barbara and I."

"Oh. So anyways... I was taken to the hospital, and Zack called my parents, who apparently came to the hospital a little later. Zack also called his mom and Cody and they came too."

"Oh, so you saw them that night?"

"Uh... No. Actually, I wasn't awake until Saturday. They came and saw me then."

"Ah. When did you get out of the hospital?"

"Saturday evening. I went home, ate very little and took a two hour nap. I was still sort of out of it."

"Understandable. How are you feeling today? I know you were still a little tired yesterday."

"I'm feeling a lot better. Normal, I'd say."

"Good to hear,and thanks for telling me what happened."

"Yep, I figure it's a good idea to communicate with you."

"So you're grounded for a month, right?"

"Yeah. So's Zack. Cody's grounded for two weeks – lucky one."

"Well. He did quit going earlier than you guys."

"Yeah. I wasn't complaining. It makes sense."

"So, about your grounding? Are you able to go to homecoming dance?"

"Yeah. I'm ungrounded a couple of days before, so we'll be able to go together."

"Yay!" Max said, happily. They continued talking the rest of class, just enjoying each other's company. Neither wanted to do their homework. At the end of class, Tapeworm walked Max to her next class, then quickly hurried to his.

At lunch, Barbara, Cody, Max, Tapeworm, Zack and Coraline all sat together. They all talked about various topics, laughing and smiling. That spirit of laughter and fun was interrupted by the appearance of a certain redhead and friend.

"Hello all," Seth greeted the entire table, sharply. "May I speak to Zack and Tapeworm?"

"In private," Eli added, eying the cafeteria suspiciously.

"Uh..." Tapeworm said, cautiously. "Yeah. Sure."

Zack just nodded, apprehensively, and they got up, looking at their table mates with nervous faces. They followed Seth and Eli out of the cafeteria.

"What was that about?" asked Coraline, noticing in particular the nervousness on Zack's face.

"Uh. It's a bit of a long story," replied Cody.

"We have all of lunch," Coraline replied.

"Alright, I'm sure Zack and Tapeworm would not mind me telling you," Cody replied and he told her what he had told Barbara earlier that day.

Meanwhile... Seth, Eli, Zack and Tapeworm were standing near the bike rack, which was the most private spot on campus. It was somewhat hidden behind a small tree.

"Uh... Hello," Zack said, cautiously. "What's up?"

"What's up is you almost got Eli and I in huge trouble!" Seth said, threateningly, in a low voice.

"You were hosting something illegal," Zack replied. "It's not my fault you almost got in trouble."

"You called 9-1-1!" Eli said, almost yelling.

"And, let me point out, you were doing something illegal, too!" Seth said, pointedly.

"Yeah. We realize that, and we were lucky not to get in trouble with the law!" Tapeworm said.

Zack nodded, then said, "I called 9-1-1 because my friend was unconcious! What the crap would you have done?"

"Nothing!" Eli said.

"Even if there was a large chance your friend might die?" Zack said, pointedly.

"I would still do nothing!" Eli said. "It's better to not get everyone in trouble!"

"Well aren't you a great friend?" Tapeworm asked, sarcastically.

"So anyways..." Seth said, ignoring Tapeworm's rhetorical question. "As annoyed as I am with you, I'm willing to invite you to another party. I'm hosting one at my place on Friday night. You interested?"

"Considering I just almost died at one of those parties, had to spend a night in the hospital, and got grounded for a month, I'm gunna have to say no," Tapeworm replied, unhesitatingly.

"Yeah. I'm gunna say no, as well!" Zack replied.

"One scare, and you guys aren't coming back?" Seth asked.

"No. I don't feel like actually ending up dead," Tapeworm replied. "I'm having a great life right now, and I don't feel like potentially ending it just for a few hours of 'fun'."

"Chicken," Eli said. "What's life without a little bit of danger?"

"I've had enough danger," Zack said.

"Whatever," Eli said, waving his hand in the air.

"Your loss!" Seth said, and they began to walk away.

"Losers!" Eli and Seth yelled, before walking back into the school.

Zack and Tapeworm stood there for a few minutes.

"They're the losers," Tapeworm said. "They'll probably end up dead."

"Unfortunately, Tape," Zack said, sadly. "You're probably right!"

"Yeah. I mean," Tapeworm said. "I don't wish any harm to them. They're cool people! But they're taking great risks with their lives, and there's a certain inevitability that something's going to happen."

"Yeah, probably. But maybe they'll get some sense before that happens!" Zack replied. "One can always hope."

"Yeah. Let's go back inside! Everyone's probably wondering what's going on..." So they walked back inside and returned to the cafeteria. They sat down with their friends and the group continued talking. The rest of the day went smoothly.

That afternoon, they returned to the hotel right after school.

"Hello Maddie," Zack and Cody said to the candy counter girl. She was now a senior in high school. Zack had outgrown his middle school crush on her, but he and Cody were still fond of her as a good friend.

"Hi Zack! Hi Cody!" Maddie said, cheerfully. "Why are you two home so early?"

"We're grounded," replied Cody.

"Why are you grounded?" Maddie asked.

"It's a long story," Zack replied. "Perhaps we'll tell you later."

"Oh. Ok," Maddie said.

"Or perhaps Mr. Moseby will tell you," Cody said. "Mom did say she'd explain it to him..."

"Oh alright," Maddie said.

"So, what are you up to tonight, Maddie?" Zack asked, nonchalantly.

"After work, I'm meeting Andrew at his house to do homework," Maddie replied. Andre was her boyfriend who she had been dating for three months.

"Cool," Zack replied.

"Hello!" London said, walking over to the counter. She was also a senior in high school. She was pretty much the same, only a tad bit smarter. She was still dating Lance, the hotel pool's lifeguard. She had a good relationship with her step-mom, Brandi, and the two hung out together on a weekly basis.

"Hi London!" Zack and Cody said.

"What's up?" Maddie asked.

"Portia and I were going to go shopping this afternoon," London answered. "She should be here soon! I just needed to grab something from my room!"

"Oh, sounds cool!" Maddie said. Surprise, surprise, London's going shopping! She thought, sarcastically.

"Yeah," Zack said.

"We should get upstairs," Cody said. "Mom's expecting us home any minute now!"

"See ya later," Zack said. He and Cody started walking up the stairs to the elevator and got on.

"Bye!" London and Maddie said. London soon left to go up to her room.

Zack and Cody spent the rest of the evening doing homework and eating dinner. They went to bed around 9:00, after getting all of their homework done.

A/N: Good news for readers! Updates will be very soon - in the next couple of days, because I'm trying to get this typed before school begins... There's two chapters left, so enjoy.