Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! Just so you know, I'm thinking that this story will have 14 chapters. I'm not 100% sure, but that's what I'm leaning towards. Enjoy!

"Cody, you're the best," Zack said, walking up to the towel station on the Sky Deck. It was late Thursday evening, and Cody's shift was almost over.

"Oh, Jenna talked to you?" Cody asked as he folded a towel and set it with the rest of the clean ones.

"Yep! She's not mad at all, and she finally believes that I wasn't lying," Zack replied, handing a towel to the lady who had just asked for one.

"So, did you ask her out?" Cody took the dirty towel from Zack that he had collected from another passenger.

"Yeah, and she said we can hang out on Saturday, but she's not comfortable calling it a date." Zack walked around the deck, collecting more dirty towels.

"Thanks," Cody said as his brother handed him the last of the towels. "I'm going to take these to the laundry room and then clock out. You wanna come?"

"Nope. But thanks again for talking to Jenna." Zack headed back to his room to watch TV.

After Cody had taken care of the towels and clocked out of work, he noticed that it was 8:45. He had to hurry back to his cabin for his tutoring session with Addison.

S-S-S-S

Friday was pretty uneventful, at least until after dinner, when Mr. Moseby announced that the kids' punishment was being lifted early for good behavior.

"We're not leaving LA until Monday, so this weekend you can enjoy yourselves," he offered generously.

The kids all thanked him. "What do you guys want to do tonight?" Marcus asked, checking his watch. It was almost 7:00, so they had about 3 hours before they had to be back on the ship to meet curfew.

"Call Jordin, see if we can go hang out with her tonight," Zack suggested. Marcus did so, but unfortunately, Jordin was busy all night. "You guys want to do something with her tomorrow?"

"Can't," Zack and Cody both replied. They explained that they had plans with Jenna and Bailey, respectively.

"Fine, then I'm just going by myself," Marcus decided. The twins reluctantly agreed, because they figured they probably wouldn't all get a chance to meet up with her before Monday morning, when the boat was leaving.

S-S-S-S

"Wake up!" Woody shouted Saturday morning, throwing a pillow at Cody.

Cody instantly awoke and almost fell off his bed. "What time is it?" he asked groggily.

"9:00," Woody replied quickly before leaving the room.

Even though it was still early, Cody wanted to spend as much of the day out in LA as possible, so he quickly got dressed and exited the room. He ran smack into London as he was turning the corner at the end of the hall.

"Oh, Cody, I'm glad I ran into you," London said, helping him off the floor. "I was looking for someone to go shopping with. Zack and Marcus both said no, because they apparently have plans."

"Sorry London, I have plans too," Cody said apologetically. "Why don't you go with Marcus? He's going somewhere with Jordin Sparks."

"Fine," London huffed. "But I'm going to need your help later. I have homework that I need help with."

Bailey had told Cody earlier about London's sudden decision to be responsible and do well in school, and Cody really supported it, so he agreed to help London.

S-S-S-S

"So, where should we go first?" Jenna asked Zack. They had just gotten off the ship and were now standing on the sidewalk, looking lost.

"Well, we should get some breakfast," Zack decided. They walked to a diner a few blocks away that Marcus had mentioned was really good.

Coincidentally, Woody and Addison were at the same diner. Marcus must have really liked it to suggest it to so many people! Zack and Jenna took a seat next to their friends.

"We should all just hang out today," Addison suggested. "I mean, Jenna, you did say you didn't want Zack to think you guys were on a date."

Jenna blushed, and Zack turned to her accusingly. "What do you have against me?"

"Nothing," Jenna insisted. "It's just not a date."

"Right," Zack said, rolling his eyes. He didn't understand why it was so hard to get Jenna to genuinely like him.

"Why are you so upset?" Jenna asked, sounding concerned. That was another thing Zack didn't understand! She really didn't seem to hate him, but she obviously didn't want to date him, and even seemed reluctant to hang out with him most of the time.

"Uh, let's not talk about it right now." Zack felt uncomfortable sharing his feelings in general, and he especially didn't want to do it in front of Woody and Addison.

"No, just tell me what's wrong," Jenna persisted. "You knew it wasn't a date, I told you that before."

"Yeah, I know. I told you I don't want to talk about it now."

Jenna just groaned and turned back to her food. This was going to be a long day.

S-S-S-S

"Let's go to the beach!" Bailey suggested after she and Cody had finished having breakfast. Cody agreed, but they both had to go back to the ship to get their bathing suits.

As Bailey was walking to her room, she overheard shouting coming from the biology lab. She knew she shouldn't eavesdrop, but whoever was shouting sounded very upset, and Bailey thought maybe she could help.

She stuck her head in the room and saw that Miss Tutweiller was on the phone. Bailey pressed herself against the wall so the teacher wouldn't see her.

"I refuse to do that!" Miss Tutweiller exclaimed into the phone. After a pause, she continued talking "You don't know any of them, so you can't -"

Obviously whoever was on the other end of the call said something Miss Tutweiller didn't like, because next she hung up the phone. Before she could turn around, Bailey ran down the hall and to her room.

The whole time Bailey was finding and changing into her bathing suit, she couldn't stop thinking about how upset Miss Tutweiller sounded. Who was she on the phone with, and what was the person saying? And what did Miss T. refuse to do? Bailey had so many questions, but she knew she couldn't ask any of them.

However, she could share her questions with Cody, which she did after she told him the whole story as they walked along the beach, searching for a spot that wasn't crowded.

"I'm curious too, but you know it's not really our business," Cody said once Bailey had finished.

"Yeah, I know," Bailey agreed. "I guess we should just forget about it and enjoy our day."

Luckily, it was pretty easy to forget about Miss Tutweiller and everything else unpleasant. After all, they were in LA, the weather was perfect, and they had all day to have as much fun as possible!

S-S-S-S

Meanwhile, Zack and Jenna were both pretty miserable. She was mad that he wouldn't just talk to her, and he was mad that she wouldn't drop the subject.

It was about 11:00 now, and they hadn't been speaking much since breakfast. But finally, Jenna couldn't take it anymore.

"Zack, either you tell me what's up right now, or I'm never going to talk to you again."

Obviously she was exaggerating, but Zack could tell she was upset.

"Look, I was mad that you refused to call this a date because what did I ever do to you? And I didn't understand why you wouldn't just give me a chance, but I'm not so sure I even care anymore. You've been horrible all day and I don't want to have to deal with that." Zack said it all very fast and angrily, and Jenna was pretty shocked when he was done.

"I didn't think it would matter to you," she admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, no offense, but you've been rejected a lot before. And you just move on," Jenna replied.

"Yeah, but I really like you... or I did. But obviously you can't stand me, so-"

"That's not true. I just don't think we would be good together."

"But you don't know for sure, because you won't even try going out with me," Zack reminded her.

"This was us going out today, and it didn't work at all."

"You said it wasn't a date!"

"So if it had been, and I didn't think it went well, that would be fine?"

"You're just looking for a way out! You can't do that! You have to really go on a date with me and see if you like it!"

"That's ridiculous! This was practically a date, even if I wouldn't say it was!"

"So you have no interest in going out on a real date?"

"No."

That was all Zack needed to hear. It was pretty pathetic, but he had thought that there was hope. It was pretty clear that Jenna didn't really like him as more than a friend, but he saw no reason to give up until now.

"Ok," he said simply, and headed in the other direction.

Author's Note: Thanks so much for reading, and please review! It means a lot!

The title of this chapter, Floating Around On A Prison Ship, is a lyric from the song Optimistic by Radiohead. :)