Chapter 3

Zack was jealous that his brother had a girlfriend and he didn't. He knew that he didn't have a chance with either Maddie or Kelsea, so he set out on the search for someone else. He just wished that she would suddenly appear. He got out of the elevator and walked into someone in a long black fuzzy raincoat.

"Watch where you're going!" Zack yelled. He didn't mean to sound mean, but he was in a bad mood.

The person removed her hood and looked at Zack.

"Sorry," she told him. "I was coming in from the thunder and lightening outside. I get a little scared." She smiled.

She was like the answer to his prayers. He had finally found her! She was pretty, with light brown hair and blonde highlights, just like Kelsea. She had big hazel eyes, too. She wasn't tall like Kelsea thought, she was a little bit shorter than Zack.

"I'm Zack," he said in amazement.

"I'm Kristi." Zack didn't know what else to say. Around girls, he usually was perfectly fine and was able to talk to them well, but this girl, she was different. He felt really nervous around her, almost like he couldn't move. "Um, do you think you can help me find my room on the 23rd floor? My sister Kelsea is out and she told me she would meet me there."

"Sure!" He was excited. Now the girl he liked lived on the same floor as him and Cody and Shannon. It was all working out so perfect. "Wait...how old are you?" he asked just to make sure she wasn't 15 like Kelsea and Maddie.

"12, but I'll be 13 soon!" she told him.

"Ok, good. I'm 12, too." He smiled and she smiled back. Then they got into the elevator.

"So where did you move from?" he asked.

"New Jersey. My dad's job got transferred. We couldn't find a house soon enough, so we have to stay here for a while."

"So you'll be moving!" he asked sadly.

"Well, eventually, but I'm hoping not for a while." She looked at Zack and smiled. Is that a sign that she likes me? He wondered to himself. He wasn't sure, but he hoped so!

Ding! The bell rang of the elevator and they got out. He led her down the hall to her room #.

"Here you are, miss."

"Thanks! Maybe...we can hang out later?" she asked him.

"Awesome!" Zack was excited. He really liked her and he thought that she liked him back, too. So he left and went to look for Cody to tell him the good news.

"Cody!" he yelled when he spotted him reading a book in the lobby.

"What?" he asked.

"I've found her!" Cody looked at him like he had 9 arms.

"Who?"

"The girl of my dreams! You found yours last night, and I found mine today!"

"Zack, every girl you meet is the girl of your dreams. Maddie, Kelsea, Max..."

"No! Those were just stupid crushes! Like around this girl, I can barely move! My legs feel like spaghetti!"

"Good for you!" Cody stood up and patted him on the back.

"Where's Shannon today?" Zack asked.

"She had to go out with her mom." Then he walked over to the candy desk with Zack.

"Hey Maddie," Zack said. "You know how you hate it how I bother you all the time?"

"Yes, kind of like what your doing right now?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yeah! Well, I won't be bugging you anymore?"

"You're moving!" she asked excitedly.

"No such luck," Cody told her. She looked disappointed.

"I met the girl of my dreams!" Zack told her.

"Aw, how sweet. But why are you still talking to me then?" she asked, sarcastically again.

"Good point, bye!" Zack yelled as he ran to the elevator.

"He's lost it," Cody told her. "But anyway, I got a girlfriend!" he told her excitedly.

"Really? Aw!" she seemed glad that both twins would finally leave her alone!

Just then Shannon walked into the lobby with her mom and sister.

"Hi Cody!" she yelled as she ran up to him. Maddie just smiled as Cody left her alone. "This is my mom and Kelli," she said as she introduced them. They talked for a little and Shannon told Cody she would meet him back there in a few minutes.

As Zack was walking down the hallway past Kristi's suite, he kept trying to be loud so Kristi would notice that he was there. He walked past it back and forth about 4 times. Then she finally opened the door.

"Hi Zack. And yes I did see you out there the past 4 times," she told him as she laughed. He felt embarrassed so he just laughed, too.

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?" he asked her nicely.

"Um, sure. Let me just tell my mom," she told him as she walked back into her apartment. Then she came back and closed the door behind her.

"What do you want to do?" he asked her.

"I don't care. I was just unpacking my video games. I have so many, I can't count them all!" she told him.

"You like video games!"

"Yeah, I know, I sound crazy, since most girls my age hate them, but im obsessed!" She laughed.

"I love video games, too!" Zack told her. He was amazed. This girl was even more perfect than he thought. "Let's go to my place and play video games!" he suggested.

"Ok!" They went over to Zack and Cody's place. Cody was in there getting ready to meet Shannon.

"Hey Cody. This is my friend Kristi," Zack told him as he winked. Cody smiled.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Zack's identical twin brother." Kristi laughed.

"But I'm older!" Zack assured her. "By 15 minutes! Cody, we are gonna play video games, so bye."

"Well excuse me!" Cody said. "I'm leaving soon, so hold your horses! Wait a minute, did you say 'video games'?" He thought that he misunderstood Zack.

"Yeah, he did. I know, I'm weird, but I love video games!" Kristi told Cody.

"Cool, Zack she sounds perfect for you!" Cody said out loud. "Oops..." Then he quickly left the room.

"Uh...Don't mind him..." Zack told her. She sat down on the couch and Zack handed her the video controller. Then he sat down next to her. They were playing Tony Hawk Underground. It was Zack's favorite game and he was really good at it. He wanted Kristi to like him, so he thought he would let her win. But in the long run, she really was better than he was, and she won anyway!

"Zack, you better not have let me win just because I'm a girl!" she said to him.

"I didn't! You seriously beat me! You're really good!" He smiled at her.

"Ok, you better not have!" They continued to play the game for a while.

Downstairs in the lobby, Cody met up with Shannon. They wanted to go outside and do something, but it was thundering and lightening, so they couldn't and had to stay in the hotel. Shannon's mom was out with Kelli, so they couldn't go to her suite. So they went back up to Cody and Zack's. Zack and Kristi were still playing Tony Hawk Underground.

"Don't you guys ever get bored of that?" Cody asked.

"No!" They both replied quickly before they got distracted. Kristi and Shannon were good friends and knew each other from back in New Jersey.

"Well, we want to watch a movie!" Cody told Zack.

"Too bad, butt head, we're busy!" Zack snapped back at Cody. Kristi and Shannon both just laughed and thought it was cute how the two argued.

"Zack, we've been playing video games for 3 hours. Let's watch a movie with them," Kristi suggested to him.

"Ok...but that is just because you want to, not because Cody does!" He gave Cody an evil look. Kristi and Shannon laughed. Cody sat down next to Shannon and put his arm around her. Zack wanted to put his arm around Kristi, but he didn't. Kristi just sat down next him. They watched 'Halloween', the one with the serial killer who always wears a hockey mask. And since it was thundering and lightening out, it was getting pretty scary. Whenever Shannon got scared, she would hide her face in Cody's shirt. It kept getting scarier and scarier.

The killer was about to kill a woman and the second he stabbed her, the thunder roared. Shannon screamed and Kristi got so scared that she jumped and hugged Zack. Zack was scared, too, until he realized that Kristi was hugging him. Kristi didn't even realize she was hugging him. When she did, she quickly sat up.

"Sorry," she said shyly.

"It's ok," Zack told her. He smiled at her. Then she smiled back and continued watching the movie. Zack wished she would keep hugging him. Slowly he moved over closer to her. Cody looked over at him and he stopped. He just gave Cody a looked that said 'What do you want?' and Cody looked away. Then he moved closer to Kristi. Then he stopped and looked at her. She looked really scared. So then he quietly put his arm around her shoulders. She screamed. Zack jumped.

"Oh my God, Zack, you scared me! I thought you were the killer! I'm so sorry!" Then she started laughing. Zack was so nervous that he was shaking. He was nervous about putting his arm around her in the first place and then she screamed when he did it! It made him think that she didn't like him.

"It's...ok..." Zack said slowly. Cody and Shannon laughed and then got back to the movie. Kristi felt bad. She could tell that he liked her and she didn't want him to think that she screamed because she didn't like him. Then she moved closer to him and pulled his arm back over her shoulders. She smiled at him to let him know that it was ok. He was glad she did that because he was afraid to try again. He was still kind of shaking and Kristi could tell.

"Are you ok, Zack?" she whispered. "You're shaking."

"Yeah, I'm fine...I just got a little scared...that's all," he answered. Then Kristi rested her head on his shoulder and he rested his head against hers. The movie was almost over, but still really scary. When it was over, it was pretty late. Zack and Kristi had gotten tired and they fell asleep. Zack's arm was still around Kristi and Kristi had her arms wrapped around Zack.

"Aw, how sweet," Shannon said to Cody. "Aren't they so cute together?"

"Yeah...they are," Cody said as he covered them with a blanket. Then him and Shannon left his apartment. Cody walked her to her suite and kissed her goodbye. Then he went downstairs to try to find his mom. He knew she had a singing job tonight, but he figured it would be over by now. He sat in the lobby reading a comic book. Then he got tired of waiting and went back up to their apartment, tip-toed past Zack and Kristi and went into his room and watched T.V.

When their mother came home, she noticed Zack and Kristi asleep on the couch. She seemed shocked. But she let them sleep. They looked so cute together, that she didn't want to wake them up. So she went down the hall to Kristi's suite and rang the doorbell. Her mother answered and she told her that they fell asleep and that they looked so cute together that she didn't want to wake them up. So she asked if it was ok if Kristi just spent the night, and her mom said it was ok. So then she went back home and they were still asleep. Then Ms. Martin went to bed.

Hope you liked it! Please review! love, Boop