Zack grinned now, and decided to use the serve he had been working on alone for a long time now. He threw it up high in the air, keeping his eyes on it as it fell. Right before it hit the table, he swiped his paddle under it quickly. It flew at a high speed over the net, hitting the table lightly. Cody went for it, but the large amount of backspin that Zack had put on it made it bounce back toward the net, which Cody hadn't expected at all.
2-2. Zack did the same serve. Cody got it over this time, but had to lob it up to do so, and Zack finished with a spike. He had pulled ahead 3-2. Now, it was Cody's turn to serve, which was his best aspect of Ping Pong. He threw it up barely, and rammed it with the paddle. It flew at twice the speed of Zack's fastest serve over the net, hit the ping pong table, and went by so quick that Zack's swing at it missed and the ball hit Zack in the stomach. Of course, though, it didn't hurt because it was just a ping pong ball.
3-3. Cody served it again, just as fast. Zack barely hit this one, though was able to keep it from being a lob. Cody hit it back with backspin. Zack saw the backspin swing, and expected hit, hitting it with topspin to even it out. Cody hit it back again, this time with no spin, but with speed and accuracy. Zack jumped back and hit it back. Cody hit it back immediately, but hit it barely downward. It hit the net and rolled over it, so when it hit the other side of the table it hardly bounced at all. Zack growled, but picked it up and threw it to Cody, getting ready for his serve again.
4-3, Cody's lead. Cody hit it with a different serve this time. Not as fast, but a load of spin, throwing Zack off, forcing him to hit it into the net. 5-3. Cody served his usual spin again and Zack was prepared, using the speed to build up momentum with his swing, doubling the speed of the serve as he hit it back. Cody hadn't expected such a good return, and sat there stunned as it flew by him with an orange blur.
He turned around and got it, using the spin serve. Zack grinned and hit it back with backspin, having the same effect as the last one by doubling what Cody had put on it. Cody had expected it, but he wasn't able to return the ping pong ball due to too much spin to handle. Zack tied it up 5-5.
It was once again Zack's turn to serve, with the game as close as it could be. This time, he decided to surprise Cody. He served a relatively easy serve, but right when he was done serving it, he put his paddle in a Japanese grip. When Cody returned it, Zack easily spiked it within mere milliseconds of it bouncing off the table. He grinned as Cody went to get the ball. 6-5, Zack's lead.
After a long time of trading points, it was 20-20, Cody's serve. They were both sweating, but still ready as ever. Cody served the best he could, and Zack returned well. Cody hit it back, Zack returned it. Cody spiked it, but Zack ran back and hit it, miraculously hitting the table. He then rushed back to the table, getting there in time to hit Cody's return back.
This point seemed to last forever. It actually lasted for about three minutes. Neither of them had the willpower to hit major kill-shots, and both were worried about losing, so they played defensively. Cody eventually hit a good one, where Zack barely got it over. Cody hit it with extreme backspin, and won the point. He actually didn't mean to put such backspin on it, so it was completely coincidental.
"I forfeit," Zack said.
"Why? You have to win by two!" Cody quickly replied, surprised that Zack was giving up.
"Because it's 4:17, the party starts around 5, and we need to get showers after sweating so much," Zack reasoned.
"Good point," Cody replied, nodding.
They both rushed to the elevators and then to the 23rd floor, then to their suite. They got to their suite at 4:21, so they didn't have much time. They quickly decided who would get in the shower first by a quick rock, paper, scissors game, and then took their quick showers and got ready.
They walked out of their room, just getting done getting ready, as they heard a knock on the door. Their first guest. Or guests, if someone had come together.
"I'll get it," chimed Carey, getting the cookies out of the oven, and then heading to the door.
When she opened it, it revealed Maddie and London in the doorway, with Warren and Bob coming in right behind them. Zack and Cody greeted them politely. Their mom closed the door, and then set the cookies on the table. Bob was the first to try and grab one, but Carey stopped him.
"They just came out of the oven, so you have to let them sit for a while," she said, taking off her oven mits and setting them on the counter.
She disappeared into her room after she said goodnight to them all. She was really tired, and decided to go to bed early. Only seconds after, there was more knocking on the door, and Zack went to get it as Cody put Miracle on 34th Street in the DVD player. Soon, they were all ready and Cody pressed play on the DVD remote. Warren got his own chair, and so did London. The rest sat on the couch, in order from left to right, Zack, Maddie, Cody, Bob.
In the middle of the first movie, Warren got up to get the Christmas cookies. He passed the tray around. Everyone got two, and Warren put the tray back up.
At the end of Home Alone, they were all laughing hysterically, as the stupid robbers fell victim to the clever traps of the young kid. It finally ended, and they were all practically crying from laughing so hard.
Then Zack put Polar Express in and took his regular seat on the couch while Cody pressed play. Around five minutes into the movie, Zack glanced at Maddie, who was deeply intrigued in the movie so far. His glance turned into a stare eventually, though no one noticed. He finally drug his eyes back to the movie, though, so no one would notice if he had stared for too long.
But around fifteen minutes later, he once again glanced at Maddie. He decided to make a daring move, but he had to if he expected their relationship as friend to turn into anything more. He slowly lifted his arm from his side to the air, and then slowly took it back down until it was around her shoulders. She acknowledged it by looking at Zack, but made no move to remove it.
Zack mentally cheered, but kept quiet. But what made the night what it became was later on. Around twenty minutes before the movie was older, Maddie glanced at Zack, and then let her head fall peacefully on his shoulder. His eyes widened as he turned his head toward her, and she just smiled.
After the movie was over, they all seemed to stretch and yawn. It was now time for Maddie and London to leave. They got up off the couch, and went toward the door. Zack followed them, opening the door for them. They all said by to the two as they left. But right before Maddie left, she said good night to Zack sweetly, and gave him another peck on the cheek.