Episode 21

"Blizzard, Part 1"

I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did.

Wait...In this story, I created some of the characters, so I will actually own them.

Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves.

And as to the ones I create, who they are is up to me, so...

New Haven

Like Bailey had said, the next three weeks tested everyone's mettle as they were all bombarded with papers and exams. And while on some days it seemed like spring break would never get there, it finally did. On the Friday afternoon before their respective breaks, both Yale and BU locked up their classrooms as students from both schools began a mass exodus towards a beach or other relaxing location. In fact, by five o'clock that afternoon, Berkeley College was almost a ghost town. While Cody and Bailey would soon be off on their own adventure themselves, they weren't in the same rush as many of their class mates. They spent that Friday afternoon taking care of mundane things such as doing their organic chem lab II report while they did their laundry. And when it was done, they packed rather heavily as they didn't know what kind of weather they would encounter on their trip. Afterall, weather in early March can range from freezing cold to warm sunny days. Plus, they knew they would be camping out with out the benefit of a heater, so they made sure to pack extra warm clothes and blankets just in case for at night. Once they finished that, it was late enough they could move their car to a closer parking lot without worrying about it getting ticketed or towed. And while they were out moving it, they headed to the store to pick up their rented camping gear along with other 'necessities' they thought they would need for the next week. By the time they went to bed, they had everything organized and ready to be loaded into the car the morning.

On Saturday morning, Cody and Bailey were up early, showered, dressed and going over their checklist one last time to make sure they had everything when Tapeworm stuck his head out of his room.

"You guys are getting an early start...Its only 7:30."

Cody grinned. "Well, we do have a five hour drive ahead of us to Gettysburg, and we want to get to our campsite before dark so we can can see what we're doing trying to put up our tent for the first time."

Tapeworm shook his head. "More power to the both of you." He paused and laughed. "Though, picturing Cody trying to put up a tent in my mind, I just wish I was going to be there to see it. This won't be anything like our trip to math camp."

"I know." Cody wrapped his arm around Bailey's waist. "But I'll gladly trade running water and electricity for having a much better looking camp...mate."

Bailey laughed. "Thanks...I think." She turned to Tapeworm. "What time are you guys heading out?"

"This afternoon. We just have to be back in Amherst in time to have dinner with the folks. We'll hang out there for a few days before we head on up to the slopes." He grinned at Cody. "And no offense, but you aren't the only one who will be spending their trip with someone a whole lot cuter."

"No disagreements here." Cody paused. "I hope Wendall wouldn't mind either..."

"I doubt it..." Tapeworm paused. "Wonder what happened to him too..." He shook his head. "Anyways, when you get back to Boston, tell Zack I had 'hey'."

"Will do. And tell your parents I said 'hey' as well."

Tapeworm paused and his eyes lit up. "Oh yeah. Speaking of my parents, my Dad suggested a solution to us for the problem we're going to have at the end of the semester."

Bailey frowned. "A solution to what problem?"

"Well, with bigger rooms, we all now have some real furniture. And your car is no bigger than mine. There's no way we can haul everything home in their assembled forms..."

Cody and Bailey both looked around the common room and realization hit them as to what he was talking about.

"You're right. What are we going to do with our furniture over the summer?"

Tapeworm grinned. "I was just getting to that. He suggested we do some measurements and rent the smallest storage unit available that everything will fit in. He figures we'll need it for four months, and with four of us, that works out to each of us paying for a month apiece. He'll even let me borrow his truck for a week so we can haul everything over to it."

"Can't those things get kind of pricey?"

"Not if we get a small one. Besides, I saw a notice on one of the bulletin boards downstairs. There's a place a few miles from here who is practically begging for business from Yale students and are willing to give one heck of a discount. By the prices listed, I think we can get by for thirty bucks a person."

Cody and Bailey looked at each other and nodded. "Works for me."

Bailey laughed. "And I'm sure Gertie and I will enjoy watching you two getting to show off your new muscles to us."

Cody turned to his roommate and sighed. "That's code for we get to do all the heavy lifting."

Tapeworm nodded. "I already kind of figured as much." He shrugged and yawned. "Oh well, you guys have fun. I'm going back to bed." And with that, Tapeworm went back into his room.

Bailey turned to Cody and smiled. "You ready to hit the road?"

He nodded. "Yeah, lets gets out of here." He smiled back. "I have a feeling this will be a trip neither of us will ever forget..."

Boston

On the Wednesday afternoon of that week, Zack found himself sitting outside of Moseby's office looking over the presentation for an MBA he had prepared and was soon to be delivering to London. And as he got to the final page, he glanced down and noticed a post-it note attached to it. It had a smiley face on it with the words 'Knock'em Dead Today! Good Luck, Maya'. Zack just shook his head and a smile broke out on his face. But before he could think too much more about it, he heard Moseby's secretary call his name and tell him he could go inside. Standing up, he gathered his things and headed into Moseby's office. And when Moseby looked up from his computer, he grinned and whistled.

"You're wearing a suit? Consider me impressed." He paused. "Last time I remember you wearing one was when you temporarily became your mother's agent. Lets hope this works out better for everyone than that time..."

Zack shrugged. "Yeah, well, I figured this was a good enough reason to break out the monkey suit. Will London be here soon?"

"Yeah, she should be here any minute now. She was coming straight here from Arturo's special VIP sneak peek of his new spring line. So brace yourself. No matter how ridiculous she looks in what she comes in wearing, just smile and compliment her on it."

Zack nodded. "Got it."

"And assuming she signs off on this, I've made some phone calls over to BU for you to find out a few things. I..."

But before Moseby could continue, the door opened, and London strolled into the office grinning. Zack and Moseby just stared at her in shock or more particularly, at her outfit. If they didn't know better, they could have sworn she was dressed as a metermaid.

She smiled. "I know! You guys have never seen anything like it before, right? Even I have to admit that Arturo has outdone himself this time. Its part of his new 'Women of Authority' line." She paused. "Though, a few times on the way in, people have yelled at me for giving them parking tickets." She shrugged. "Oh well, its much better than that hideous line he based off of Bailey's wardrobe." She took a seat next to Zack. "So, what's the purpose of this little meeting anyways?"

Moseby nodded to Zack that the floor was all his. Zack stood up and was about to begin his presentation when London interrupted him again.

"Is that the same suit that my double bought you?"

Zack paused and looked down at it. "Ummm...I think so."

She shrugged. "Well...I'll give her one thing. She knows a good suit when she sees it. Anyways, you were about to tell me why we're meeting here today?"

He nodded. "Right." He handed London and Moseby a copy of the prospectus he had prepared. "London, you took a chance on me when you decided to see if I could handle working here and going to college. And based on my grades and performance reviews so far, I think I've been pretty successful at both. Well, I've learned that the hospitality industry is something I actually know a lot about, and I think I can be pretty good at it in the future. I mean...after living in either a hotel or on board a luxury cruise ship since I was twelve, I was bound to pick up a few things..."

London interrupted him again. "Will you just spit it out already? I don't have all day..."

Zack nodded again and readied himself to drop the big bomb on her. "Well, I'm on pace to graduate in two more years. But I don't think I'm ready to be done with school just yet. With your blessing, I'd like to continue on with my education and get my MBA..."

London just looked at Zack for a minute before shrugging again. "Okay."

Zack just stared at London incredulously. "Okay? Just like that? I've got an entire presentation here about the benefits it would bring to the company and how I would be trained to know not only the hospitality side of things but also the business and management sides as well..."

London looked down at the packet he had given her. "And I bet you have everything right here like you say you do. But would you rather waste my time and risk me saying 'no' when you're done or take a 'yes' right now and call it a day?"

Zack paused to think and quickly sat down. "And I'm done..."

She laughed. "I kind of figured as much. And Zack, I'm impressed. This was much better than the last time you pitched an idea to me. If you had done all of this back then, Tipton Industries might be producing your super suit right now instead of the one it currently is..." She paused. "...if you two don't mind, forget I said that..."

He just looked at her. "Now you tell me..."

"But all jokes aside, I'm really proud of you. You're taking initiative, and that's a good thing. But even better, you cleared it with me first. Excellent work." She checked her watch. "And if we're done here, I have another meeting to go to with Daddy. Moseby, I'll expect you to further guide him in what he needs to do for this and will take care of everything like you do now."

Moseby nodded. "Of course." He paused. "Does this meeting with your father have anything to do with...you know?"

London smiled. "Uh huh. We sign the final contracts on it today!"

Zack looked back and forth between the two of them in confusion. "Final contracts for what?"

She paused. "Well...its on a need to know basis. We're keeping it very hush hush."

"Hey, you said yourself you wanted me to be able to take over here one day. Shouldn't I be in the loop then?"

Moseby just shrugged as London paused to think. "You're making all kinds of good points today. I need to get used to that. Alright, the Tipton Hotels division of Tipton Inc. and London Inns are doing a joint venture." She smiled. "We're building a new cruise ship to be called the S.S. Tipton II!"

Somewhere in Virginia...I Think

The first couple of days of their trip had been spent at Gettysburg before heading to Sharpsburg, Maryland on Monday afternoon. By Wednesday Cody and Bailey had spent their second full day exploring the Antietam National Battlefield before packing up again to move on to their next destination. Late that afternoon, they were on their way south towards Appomattox Court House - well, to be specific, the campground nearby to it. But on their way, there was an out of the way historic bed & breakfast/restaurant that Bailey had found online and wanted to try. Supposedly, it was where the Army of Northern Virginia had camped out after retreating from Antietam, and the actual B&B had been a hospital for the Confederate army. As it was out of the way, they left the interstate and made their way along some rural and windy roads before they finally found it. And Cody had to admit – the food and aura of history was well worth the detour. As they waited to digest their slices of fresh pecan pie and sip their coffees, Cody smiled at Bailey.

"So, halfway through our week, what do you think so far?"

Bailey just smiled back at him. "Cody, I'm having the most amazing time. You read all about these battles in books or lectures, but being on the actual grounds where they happened..." She shook her head. "...its completely different."

Cody kept smiling. "I know. Its kind of like being back on the boat. We got to see all of those places up close and learn by experiencing them first hand. I've even been keeping a journal so I don't forget anything we've seen."

"Yeah. And when you're out there, you can almost get the feeling of what those soldiers were experiencing...without people actually shooting at you. Can you imagine getting ready for the battle and not knowing whether or not that was going to be the last day you would ever have on earth?"

He teased her. "So, is that why we're camping out so we can get an even more authentic experience?"

She just looked at him. "Cody, we have modern camping gear and plenty of food. They'd kill to have what we have. Compared to what they had, we have the equivalent of London's penthouse..."

"You're probably right." He paused. "So, tell me. What was it like being at Cemetery Ridge seeing where your distant uncle made his date with destiny?"

Bailey sighed and shook her head. "Its so unfair! The blame deserves to be on Lee or Longstreet. But oh no...they have to call it Pickett's Charge!"

Cody grabbed her hand and rubbed it soothingly. "Hey...You don't have to tell me what its like for your family name to be despised and drug through the mud because of something that was someone else's fault..." He grinned. "And look at it this way...at least neither of our last names are Custer."

That brought a small smile to her face. "That's true I guess."

He smiled back at her. "And...I've didn't throw fish at you out there because of what happened in the past..."

"You're never going to forget that, are you? I said I was sorry. If I had known it was you, I never would have thrown them in the first place."

Cody teased her. "Uh huh. Like I'm supposed to believe that."

Bailey teased him right back. "You'll believe it when you're sleeping outside of the tent tonight..."

He paused and briefly imagined being outside and subjected to having all kinds of creepy and crawly animals running rampant all over him. He shuddered. "Okay, I believe you..."

She smiled at him. "You were just picturing animals crawling all over you, weren't you?"

"Well, when you've almost been squeezed to death by a snake, you'll know the terror it brings!"

"And here I thought you were only afraid of penguins..."

"Snakes now too. I hate snakes..."

Bailey laughed. "Okay there...Indiana."

Cody laughed too. "Speaking of states, I can now cross West Virginia off of my list of states I had never been in before."

"Me too. Too bad we weren't closer to Ohio or Kentucky. We could have knocked them off too."

"True, but could you imagine the looks on Woody and Addison's faces if they found out we had been in Ohio and not come up and seen them?

"Good call...They wouldn't be happy at all." She checked her watch. "Speaking of good calls, we better get back on the road. As it is, its going to be dark outside when we try to put up our tent tonight."

He smiled. "Well, fortunately, we've had a few days of doing it before, so we should have it down pat by now. And, we can always use the headlights on the car to illuminate things for a little while if we have to."

Bailey laughed. "True. Come on. Lets get go pay and get out of here."

After paying, they stepped back outside and were kind of surprised to see flurries falling.

"Snow?"

Bailey shrugged. "Well, we are still in the Appalachian Mountains. I'm sure the further south and closer to sea level we get, it'll be back in the 60's again."

Boston

To say Zack was shocked would be an understatement. There was going to be another S.S. Tipton?

"London, are you serious?"

"Of course I am. But this one will be a little bit different than the other one. Since I'm no longer in school, there's no need to bring back Seven Seas High. Its gone for good especially after it came back to bite Daddy in the butt after the fiasco with Cody's transcripts. Instead, we're going to convert what would have been all the student cabins into more economically priced ones that customers of London Inns should be able to afford. That's why its a joint venture."

Zack nodded in understanding though he was a little sad to hear Seven Seas High would stay gone. But that's when something occurred to him, and he turned to Moseby. "Are you going to go back and manage this new one like you did the old one?"

Moseby shook his head and laughed. "Nope. Actually, I'm quite happy here. Besides, with no Seven Seas High, there would be no place for Emma to teach at. Plus, she likes it here in Boston as she's fairly close to Vermont but not too close that her mother is always visiting us."

London spoke up. "Actually, the new manager will be Esteban. At least for a little while anyways. He and Francesca thought it sounded like the adventure of a lifetime before they settled down to have kids in a few years."

Zack nodded again thinking that made sense. "So, when's the launch date?"

"It should be ready to set sail not this summer but hopefully by next summer. At least, that's the plan. Anyways, if I don't hurry, I'm going to be late. See you two later." And with that, London grabbed her purse and left the office quickly. Zack was just left there sitting shaking his head.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Moseby nodded. "Very true. Anyways, now that London's on board, I do have a few things to go over with you."

Zack nodded and sat down. "Alright, lay it on me. Lets hear it."

"First of all, you know you're going to have to continue to keep your grades up, right?"

"Yeah, I kind of figured I would have to. Moseby, I promise I'll do my best."

"That's all I can ask. Second, you'll have to take the GMAT - the Graduate Management Admission Test. I would highly recommend you have already taken it by this time next year. The earlier you can take it, the earlier you get your scored back, the earlier you can apply, the earlier you'll get your responses back."

Zack nodded again. "Alright, I'll check out the website when I get home for test dates."

Moseby nodded. "Good. The third thing is what we talked about last time."

"About me getting that minor?"

"Yeah. Turns out you that with what you've already taken, you only need five more classes to complete a minor in business administration and management." He paused. "However, there is good news and bad news..."

Zack slumped back into his seat. "Of course there's some bad news. Why wouldn't there be?"

Moseby just gave him a look. "As I was saying, the good news is that two of the classes – financial accounting and managerial accounting will be basically be replays of classes you will have already completed by the time you take them. So, you should have a leg up on everyone else going into those."

Zack paused as he considered that. "I actually like the sound of that. But lets forget the good news. What's the bad news then?"

"The first course you would have to take is a rather intensive course to catch up on on business basics – a six credit course to be exact."

He frowned. "That doesn't sound like any fun at all..."

"It can't be helped, Zack. Its the prerequisite to the other four classes, so you'll have to get it out of the way as soon as possible."

Zack sighed and shrugged. "Alright...I'll take it next fall. That wasn't as bad as I had feared..."

Moseby just looked at him again before dropping a bomb of his own. "Actually...you'll be taking it this summer. In fact, I've already registered you for it..."

Zack shook his head and groaned. "Summer school again? Come on Moseby, have a heart! I've been in school nonstop since the fall of 2011. I need a break!"

"I know you have." Moseby smiled. "But do this this summer, and I promise you I'll find some way to make it up to you later..."

Still Somewhere in Virginia...I'm Almost Pretty Sure This Time

Cody and Bailey were driving back towards the interstate down the windy, country road they had come in on – or at least they thought they were. Seems those flurries they encountered as they walked out of the restaurant had quickly escalated into a full fledged blizzard. It was really coming down now and had coated everything with a white blanket. And even with his wipers on the highest speed and high beams and fog lights on, Cody was having problems seeing the road ten feet in front of him.

"Bails, I really need your help here. I can hardly see a thing, so if you see anything I should be aware of, just shout it out to me..."

She nodded. "I will." She paused as she scanned in front of her. "You know, even back in Kettlecorn or New Haven, I've never seen snow come down this hard this fast before."

"It has to be due to us being in the mountains. Do you remember how long it took us to get to the restaurant once we left the interstate?"

Bailey shook her head. "I'm sorry, Cody, but I don't. I wasn't paying attention to it while I reviewed our guidebook. I really wish I had been now."

"Well, I'm not sure it really matters now because I don't dare go over fifteen miles per hour. Thank goodness this car is all wheel drive. If it wasn't, we could be in some serious trouble..."

Bailey sighed. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't wanted to go to that place, we'd never be in this situation right now..."

"Sweetie, its no one's fault. Lets just concentrate on us getting back to the interstate. I'll feel a whole lot better once we do..."

"You're right." She paused as she thought of something. "Or we could turn around and head back to the restaurant. After all, it was part of a bed and breakfast. Right now, I wouldn't mind getting off the roads until this storm has passed."

Cody nodded. "I think that might be our best bet." He paused as he looked forward. "That is if we can..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this is a very narrow road. There isn't enough room on it to do a turnabout, and with the snow now covering everything, I don't see any roads or driveways to pull into and back out. And I don't dare risk getting us stuck in a ditch."

Bailey looked out the windshield to see if she could see anything, but she was having as much trouble as Cody was. Well, she was until she saw something she thought might be useful to them.

"Cody! Up there about a hundred yards. You see that opening in the fence?"

He peered out and did indeed see what she was referring to. "Yeah, I see it. Think we should give it a shot?"

"I say we go for it."

Cody nodded, and slowed down even further as the approached the break in the fence. Slowly, he turned the car into into the opening. And as he did, both were holding their breath hoping that there actually was a drive or at least gravel underneath all of the snow. When the car didn't sink into a ditch, both let out a sigh of relief. After Cody got the car completely off the road, he put the car into park and took a deep breath.

"I just wanted to catch my breath and wipe the sweat off of my hands before we turn around."

Bailey smiled at him. "I completely understand. Take your time, Sweetie."

He took one more deep breath, wiped his hands on his jeans and put the car in reverse. But something wasn't right. He was putting pressure on the gas pedal, but the car wasn't moving backwards.

"What the..."

Bailey opened her door and looked behind them. She groaned when she saw what was happening. "The tires are just spinning in place. They aren't able to get any traction."

Cody let off the gas to think. "Alright, let me put it in park, and we'll switch spots. You ease on to the gas, and I'll get out and push. Hopefully, that might do something and get us moving again."

Unfortunately, that did absolutely nothing as the tires just kept spinning in place. No matter how hard Cody pushed, the car still was not moving at all. Giving up on that idea, Cody climbed into the passenger seat to warm up.

"Okay, that didn't work. On to plan B. Time to call AAA." He pulled out his wallet to get his AAA card and then pulled out his cell phone. But when he tried to make a call, he couldn't. "Bails...I can't get a phone signal..."

Bailey pulled out her phone to see if she could get one on hers, but she groaned. "Neither can I...I guess we're stuck here until another car comes by. Hopefully, we can flag them down."

Cody just frowned at her. "Ummm. Sweetie. We haven't see any other cars on this road coming up or down since we left the restaurant..."

She just looked at him. "Cody...are you saying what I think you're saying?"

He just nodded sadly. "I'm afraid so. We're trapped in a blizzard out in the middle of nowhere. And according to the thermometer on the dashboard, the temperature has been rapidly dropping for the past hour. Unless we find some kind of help or a way to get out of here soon, we could freeze to death..."

To be Continued...

AN: Yeah, the last chapter was literally the calm before the storm lol. I'll keep my promise though. If UK wins the SEC Tourney tomorrow, a new chapter will be posted tomorrow night. Though, it will be after the selection show. And if the NCAA screws over UK like I'm fully expecting them too, I might be livid for a while. Oh well...March Madness...you gotta love it!