Chapter 16

"London, just what do you think you are doing?"

This was the first time in London's life that she has been legitimately afraid of her father. Well, maybe not afraid of him, just what he will do. She glanced at the pilot in the jet and knew that she would have to give him a stern talking to since the man said something to her father when he said he wouldn't. That's why she didn't want to take her private jets in the first place—the Tipton employees were all too loyal.

"What does it look like, Daddy?" she quipped. "I'm bringing Zack back to the SS Tipton since he was wrongfully taken off of it."

"He's not going back on that ship. I already made that clear."

Two big men came out of the jet after Mr. Tipton called for them, and they came over to Zack and took each of his arms. "Hey, hey, easy," he protested. London was near tears.

"Please, Daddy, this isn't fair," she pleaded, with her chest tightening and her chest constricting. "I been through a lot in getting here. Just look at what I'm wearing. I would never wear something like this unless it was really, really important. That should tell you how special Zack is to me."

Mr. Tipton walked up to her, his hands clasped behind his back. "I understand that, London, but I don't want you to be with a trouble-maker like him. He's poor, unkempt, dull, and not that smart."

"I'm standing right here, you know," Zack piped up as he was still held by the big suited men.

"He will be sent back to The Tipton and you, will take this jet with me back to the SS Tipton." London's fists clenched, and her father noticed. "London, you know I was serious when I said I didn't want you to be with him."

"But this whole situation should tell how serious I am about him."

"Regardless, he's going back to The Tipton and you are going back to the SS Tipton." He snapped his fingers. "Take him away."

The men started to drag him away, and London grabbed her father's arm in desperation. "Please, please, Daddy, don't do this. I love him. He makes me happy, and I him happy. Actually, I think he be the best thing that has ever happened to me. And you want to take that away from me?"

"Wait, I'm the best thing that has ever happened to you?" Zack asked as he tried to resist the men. London gave him a loving look.

"Yes, you are. You're more important to me than all my money and jewels."

"And you're more important to me than my video games, and even that spicy shrimp, which is saying something."

"Aww…" London gushed, putting her hands to her heart.

Mr. Tipton cleared his throat loudly. "That's enough. Off he goes." He waved his hand and the men pulled Zack away to a sleek black car. Zack shouted as the men were pushing him into the car,

"I love you, London! We'll find another way to be together, I promise."

The men pushed Zack in and the car sped off out of the park. Tears stung London's eyes and she looked to her father. She gave him a mean look. He sighed. "London, I'm sorry."

"No, you're not."

"As much as he makes you happy, he is not good for you or the Tipton image. You know that. We've been over this before."

"But I don't care! Who cares about image and all that? I just want to be with him."

To London, image was everything, so her saying this was really a shocking thing and really showed her father just how serious she was. He turned and walked back to the jet. London muttered, "How can you be so mean?"

"I'm not being mean, I'm being strict," he said without turning around. "You'll thank me for this someday."

"I don't think so."

He didn't say anything to that. "We should go. Come."

London begrudgingly followed her father onto the jet, and not a word was spoken as the two sat for the two hour journey to where the ship was. When the jet landed on the ship, her friends were there to greet her since she had texted Cody of what happened. He, Bailey and Woody were there, giving her a sad expression.

"We're so sorry it didn't work, London," Cody said. "Maybe we weren't as careful as we thought."

The jet took off right as Mr. Moseby came up and made a fit about not being there when Mr. Tipron arrived, and how London and her friends lied about London being sick. Said teens ignored him. "Yeah, we'll think of something else."

London was tired of hearing that. The tears that threatened to come came, and she stalked away from her friends, not wanting to talk to anyone, yet Bailey caught up to her and walked with her back to their room.

This is real. She really may not see Zack again.

Zack figured all of this wouldn't work, even though he hoped that it would. The whole plan was elaborate, and he and his friends thought that they were careful... well, they weren't careful enough. Mr. Tipton is just too powerful for his own good. What can he and London do now? It's doubtful that another ruse to get them together will work. How come he can't be with the one girl that he has legitimately fell in love with.

"It just isn't fair..."

Carey put an arm around er unhappy son as he sat next to her on the sofa in their suite. Zack had just gotten back. "I'm sorry, honey."

"I just want to be with the girl that I love. Is that too much to ask?"

"Apparently it is for Mr. Tipton. You were already in his bad books, but after this, you have a permanent place."

"That doesn't help," he scoffed. "Now, I have no chance of seeing the SS Tipton and London Tipton ever again."

She rubbed his shoulder. "You just have to have some hope, Zack."

"Psht, I did, and it was no use. There's no hope for me now. Or London."

Right at that moment, knocking sounded on the suite door. Carey got up to answer it, and Zack stood up to see Casey standing there. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too, Zack." She let herself in, and Carey muttered, "Come on in" after. She turned to face her. "Hello, you must be Zack's mom. It's very nice to meet you. I'm Casey Covington."

Carey shook the girl's hand. "And it's nice to meet you, too." She gave Zack a questioning look.

"Relax, mom. She's London's friend. She helped London get here in the first place." He looked to Casey. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

She planted her hands on her hips. "I came to help you out a bit. I heard that your plan tanked, so I thought I would put my hand in one more time. And I promise it will be one more time since I'm sure this will work."

"I don't think Mr. Tipton will be able to put up with another scheme to get me and London together."

"Oh, he'll agree this time."

Zack eyed that devious smile of hers. Just what is she up to?

"There has to be something that we haven't thought about yet."

London sat on her bed as she watched, blankly, as Bailey paced their room about three hours after London arrived back, was reprimanded, as well as her friends, by Mr. Moseby and Miss Tuttweiller. Bailey, Cody and Woody were punished—they were banned from the sky deck and other places of recreation for a week.

"Just forget it, Bailey," London said. "There's no use anymore."

Bailey gave her friend and roommate, who was now out of the country clothes, an alarmed look. "Are you just going to give up?"

"I don't want to risk Daddy getting more upset with me, and with all of you."

"Don't you want to be with Zack?"

"Yeah..."

"Then we have to think of something else. The plan didn't work, so it's time to try again."

London was again grateful that she had such good friends who were willing to help her. "Okay, so... what should we do now?"

Knocking sounded on the door, and Bailey said to come in. In came Cody and Woody. "Have you thought of something yet?" Cody asked.

"No, not yet," said Bailey. "What about you?"

"We have nothing. We tried to be as discreet as we could with the last plan, but Mr. Tipton still found out about the whole thing."

"I bet it was that jet pilot," Woody said. "He probably blabbed to Mr. Tipton about London and Zack trying to escape."

"Yeah, I guess that, too," Bailey said. "So, what should we do?"

London stood up, and at the same time, wiped a tear that was falling. "Just don't do anything, okay? Daddy will know about whatever we try to do, so it's no use. We'll never see Zack again..."

She slumped back down on her bed and whimpered and Bailey went and sat down next to her and rubbed her shoulder. Cody had a sad look in his eyes. "We can't just give up. Zack's obnoxious, but he's London's boyfriend, my twin brother, and our friend. He needs to be here with us."

"But nothing will escape Mr. Tipton, like London said," Bailey said.

They all became silent and London could almost hear the gears in their heads turning. What are each of them thinking? She knew that not much went on in her head, and at the moment, all that was in her head was Zack and how to get back. And, like her friends, she could think of nothing. What the heck is she and her friends going to do?!

Knocking sounded on the door and Woody went to open it. When he did, his mouth dropped. "Uh... hello."

"Hi, is this London's room?"

London recognized that voice! She got up and went to the door and found Casey there. "Casey! What the heck are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too, London. Remember how I said my dad and I should take a cruise on the SS Tipton? Well, we flew our private jet straight here after after I had a talk with Zack at The Tipton."

"A talk?" London asked. "About what?"

Casey didn't answer right away, but walked in passed London and stood in front of Cody. "Hey, you must be Cody, Zack's brother! You guys definitely look related."

"That would make sense since we're twins," Cody said. "You must be London's friend Casey who flew her to Boston."

"Yep, that's me!" She took Cody's hand and shook it. "It's really nice to meet you. I've been wanting to meet you since London told me about you."

Cody smiled awkwardly as Casey gave him a flirtatious look. Bailey stepped in and grabbed Casey's hand that was holding Cody's and shook it. "Hi, I'm Bailey, another one of London's friends, and I'm Cody's girlfriend."

London smirked, knowing that Bailey added that last bit on purpose. Woody came in and took Casey's hand that was shaking Bailey's. "I'm Woody, one of Zack and Cody's best pals. It's really nice to meet you, Casey."

Casey gave Woody and unsure look and discreetly took her had away. "Yeah, it's great to meet you, too. Now—on to business. Taking a vacation isn't the only reason why I'm on this ship. I'm here to put in a helping hand in this whole situation. And I'm pretty sure this plan will work."

London came up to her and was momentarily jealous of Casey's long, sleek blonde hair and bright blue eyes. "You have a plan? One that will work?"

"I sure do. I ran the plan by Zack when I was at The Tipton, and when he thought it was a great idea, I ran it by my dad who also thinks it's a good idea. Honestly, he felt badly for you and Zack, so he was more than willing to help."

"Well?" Bailey egged. "What's the plan? We haven't come up with anything so far Out first plan to get Mr. Tipton on the ship worked, but not the second one. Well, the first half worked, but we got found out."

Casey went over to London's vanity desk and took up a bottle of perfume that was in a pink glass bottle in the shape of a heart. She smelled the bottle, then said, "Well, it so happens that my dad is the CEO of a multi-million dollar company that works with the Tipton Corporation on a monthly basis. And works with, meaning that my dad's company gives Tipton Co most of its money. So, how much will Tipton Co suffer if my dad suddenly stops sending Tipton Co all that money?"

Cody's mouth dropped open. "Wait, so you're saying that your father is going to withhold millions of dollars from the Tipton Corporation just so Zack and London can be together?"

All the teens in the room stared at Casey and at this bold idea. London didn't understand a lot of things, and didn't know a lot of things, but she knew that her father is nothing without all his money. Well, neither is she, but she found something more important to her. "Wait, Casey," she began, "your daddy said that he won't give my daddy money unless he agrees to Zack and me being together?"

"More than that," Casey said with a smile. "He's going to speak with your dad in person and say that if he doesn't allow Zack Martin to finish out his high school career at Seven Seas High, the revenue to Tipton Co will stop."

"Are you serious?" Bailey gasped. "Can he do that?"

"Of course he can. Mr. Tipton won't have a choice."

"But what about London?" Woody asked, and all looked at him. "I mean, if Zack comes back, then Mr. Tipton will just pull London off the ship and will send her somewhere else. He really doesn't want her to be with him."

"Why do you have to be such a kill-joy?" Bailey asked.

"What? Mr. Tipton did all this just so London and Zack wouldn't be together. He's bound to just send London away."

"We planned for that, too," Casey said and all turned their attention to her again. "My dad's going to insist that London stay on the ship as well, mainly as a companion and friend for me since we're going to be on this ship for a while. He's going to throw in, 'Oh, so you want to deprive my daughter of her happiness when you already did that with your own?' It's sure to work."

"Wait, so you're staying on the ship for a while?" Woody asked hopefully. "Are going to attend Seven Seas High?"

"No, I'm twenty years old. I just want to take a very long vacation until I go to college."

"Sweet, that means that we can get to know each other better." He stood close to her and she made a face while Bailey and London snickered.

"I think this is a great idea," Cody said. "It's really nice of you and your dad to want to help out, Casey. I just hope this plan works."

She scampered away from Woody and went and hooked her arm with Cody's. Bailey's eyes blazed. "It will. And this extra time will allow me to get to know you a little more."

She gave him that same flirtatious look, and she batted her eyes at him. Bailey cleared her throat and stepped in and took Cody's arm away from her, a possessive look in her eyes. "Yes, I think this is a great plan, too. But we want to get London and Zack together, not anyone else—not someone who already has a girlfriend."

The two girls had a stare-off for a moment, and London saw Woody make a pouty face. It's obvious that the large boy has developed a crush on the pretty blonde, and it was obvious that there is now a love triangle between Cody, Bailey and Casey. But all that doesn't matter!

"Guys!" London hollered, and everyone jumped and looked over at her. "Let's get back to the plan! This is about me and Zack getting back together. Casey, when is your dad going to talk to mine?"

Casey smiled. "Once I give the OK, then he's going to call Mr. Tipton and they will have a meeting right here on this ship. Mr. Tipton is sure to come since Dad is very important to his company."

"Now would be a good time to give the OK," she prodded.

"Yes, it would." She got out her cell phone from her silver purse and pressed a button. A second passed as she held the flip-phone her her ear. "Dad? It's me. It's time." She shut the phone. "Done. Mr. Tipton should be here by tomorrow."

"You're so clever..." Woody said in an awestruck, as well as love-struck, voice.

"Woody, I thought you liked Addison," Bailey commented.

"Who said I liked Addison?" he countered.

"Your constant stares at her at school, and your nervous talk whenever you talk to her."

"Well... a guy can like more than one person, can't he?"

He smiled at Casey, who ignored him and hooked Cody's other arm. London would laugh at the awkward look Cody had on his face as both girls on either of his arms gave each other a mean glare, but she was too excited for this new plan to go into action. And, like everyone else, she hoped it would work. It has to. No more failed plans.