Chapter 21

Again, I don't own any of these characters

Life on board the ship returned to normal. Rebecca's mom met her at the next port of call, and they both headed home together. Before she left though, she wanted to thank Cody again for all of his help. Cody could only nod and say he was glad to help. And again, they departed as friends...with nothing more than a simple handshake.

Josh didn't fare so well. He was extradited back to the United States where authorities were ready to throw the book on him. However, upon a psychological examination, Josh was deemed unfit to stand trial. Quietly, he was taken away to an institution where he would get the help that he needed. Unfortunately for him, the charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping (he did forcibly keep Cody and Moseby in Moseby's office), attempted fraud and a whole other slew of charges were waiting on him on the day he ever became well again.

Back on board, October moved on slowly. Everyone was busy with their school work and impeding midterms at the end of the month. And to add on to that, for most of the seniors and several of the juniors, the SATs were scheduled for October 30, the Saturday of the Halloween Costume Ball. While the SATs were no longer a concern for Cody and Bailey, they did decide to help their friends prepare for them.

So, it was with that everyone found themselves in the ship's library. Cody and Bailey had their laptops with them, working on their own school work while Woody, Addison, Zack, Cassie and London were all taking a practice test. Cody and Bailey couldn't help but look around at their friends and the faces they were making. All seemed deep in thought, but were unintentionally making some of the funniest faces anyone could imagine.

Cody turned to Bailey and whispered. "I'm sure glad we have all of this done and over with..."

Bailey nodded. "Me too...Not just the SATs, but the college applications, the waiting to hear if you are accepted..."

"I know..." Cody chuckled. "I mean, we don't have anything we really have to worry about now except to make sure we graduate..."

Bailey smiled. "True...but somehow I don't see either of us kicking back and coasting the rest of the way..."

Cody smiled. "Me either...besides, I still have to secure being the valedictorian..."

Bailey looked at Cody and laughed. "You, the valedictorian? Sweetie, I hope you won't take it too hard when you only get salutatorian..."

"Salutatorian? That would mean someone beat me out for first. Not gonna happen..."

"Don't be so sure about that..." Bailey grins. "After all, I did have the better admissions essay and I did beat you in darts, ping pong and Simon Says..."

Cody grins. "True...But just remember which one of us had the higher SAT score..."

"Ohhhh...This sounds like a challenge, Mr. Martin!"

Cody laughs. "It sure does...What are your terms, Miss Pickett?"

Bailey paused. "Wait a minute...What are we doing? I thought we agreed no more competitions..."

Cody paused and sighed. "You're right...Bails, you know if you got valedictorian, I'm be just as happy as if I got it myself..."

"Same here...I'd be proud to say my boyfriend was the valedictorian..."

Cody smiled. "And you know, it wouldn't be impossible for us to tie, you know...We're tied right now as it is..."

Bailey smiled. "That would be nice..."

Cody looks around, grins, and lean. "I have an idea..."

"What is it?"

"What if we did a different kind of competition. More of an us against the world. We work together to make sure that at least one of us gets it..."

Bailey smiled. "I like the sound of that..."

"Me too..."

Bailey smiles. "Alright, Mr. Martin...but, if by chance, only one of us does get it, does the winner get any perks?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"This..." Bailey leans over and whispers her idea into Cody's ear.

Cody smiles. "Deal..."

Just then, the timer for the practice test goes off. Cody looked up and called time. Everyone grumbled as they put their pencils down. Cody collected them and brought them back to Bailey so they could grade them. Cody heard a thumping noise and looked up to see Zack banging his head against the table.

"Zack, what are you doing?"

"Trying to get the thoughts of one train leaving New York and the other leaving Los Angeles out of my mind..."

Cody tried to hold back his laughter. "I think everyone take a few minutes to go stretch and relax..."

Zack looked up at his brother. "Cody, I will give you a thousand dollars to take the SAT for me...You can use my ID and no one will ever know..."

Cody just shook his head. "Zack...You don't have a thousand dollars..."

London perked up. "But I do! And I'll make it two thousand!"

Bailey looked up at London. "London, don't you want the satisfaction of knowing you earned your score all by yourself?"

London gave Bailey a look like she was crazy. "No...And aren't you the one who sulked for a week because Cody beat you by two points?"

Bailey could only sigh.

Woody snickered. "Yeah, she was. I know I wouldn't complain at all if I got a 1550..."

Bailey tries to explain. "It wasn't the score that I was upset with...Cody and I had made a bet with each other and it kind of stung to only lose by two points..."

London laughed. "Lose? How do either of you lose with the bets you two make? What did you have to do, give him a foot rub?"

Cody smiles. "Actually, it was a full massage..."

Bailey turns and stares at "Cody!"

London interrupts them. "Can you guys just get on with grading our practice exams. Some of us have better things to do then watch you two be all cutesy with each other..."

Cody looks over at Bailey. "I'll grade the math, you grade the verbal..." Cody grins. "Wanna bet who can get done first?"

Zack, Cassie, Woody, Addison and London all yell "NO!"

Cody and Bailey look at each other and then back at their friends.

Zack sighs. "We'd actually like to know what our real scores are without you two making a mistake by going too fast..."

Cody nods. "Right...My bad..."

And with that, Cody and Bailey sit down to score the practice tests. Both diligently go through each one and write down the correct half score on each practice test. Cody gets to his last one and pauses. He grades it again and is having trouble believing what he is seeing. He turns to Bailey and sees she is doing the same thing. "Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?"

Bailey shrugs. "Looks like it..."

London looks at them. "What's the hold up?"

Bailey pauses. "Well, Woody, you got a combined 1140..."

Woody nods. "Not bad..."

Cody continues. "Addison, you got a combined 1174..."

Addison smiles. "I'll take it!"

Bailey picks up her next one. "Cassie, a 1267..."

Zack smiles at his girlfriend. "Showoff..."

Bailey picks up her last one. "And London...a 1222...Good job."

London begins clapping. "Yay Me!"

Zack looks over at them. "Well, let's hear it...How bad did I do?"

Cody looks at his brother. "Zack...I don't know what to say...Congratulations...a combined 1502..."

Zack jaw drops open and everyone else just looks at him.

To be Continued...

Author's Note: I figured there was just something about a guy named Zack getting a 1502.