Author's Note: Alright so it's been what? A month? Two? Ha. Well...for starters...I'm very very very very very very sorry that I haven't updated sooner. But as an 8th grader your last two months are quite busy what with projects and planning for graduation and all of that. But I suppose that's no excuse. But...if it helps...this chapter is very long. Very long. So anyways here it is...chapter 8. I'm hoping it's as good as the other chapters...but it might not be. Chapter 9 will be up sooner as school is over now (Yay!) so I'll have more time to write. Here you are. Enjoy:

Chapter 8: Stupid

Zack woke up the following morning with a ridiculously annoying headache. He groaned irritably and rolled over in his bed, shoving his head deep into the pillow, half wishing it would suffocate him.

"Stupid crying," He muttered angrily as he slowly lifted his head from the pillow, shoving it out of the way so that it hit the bike the twins were forced to share and knocking it (the bike that is) into the dresser which produced a rather large crash which woke Cody.

"Zack, what's wrong?" Cody asked, startled. Zack groaned again as he climbed out of bed and set the bike back in its proper place, carelessly tossing his pillow back onto his bed. He ignored Cody's interrogations as he left the room.

"Stupid bike. Stupid Cody."

"Hey!" Rebecca greeted cheerily as she caught up with Zack shortly after third period, "Whoa…what's up with you?" She asked curiously as Zack tore apart his locker in search of his English book. Before he had the chance to answer, however, Cody came tearing through the doors at the end of the hall. He was about to go straight past them when Zack caught him sharply by the elbow and pulled him back.

"What's going on?" Zack asked, releasing his younger brother. Cody glanced fearfully around and worked on getting his breathing back to normal.

"Drew…Drew's looking for me," He managed to get out finally. Zack frowned.

"Why?"

Cody stared at his brother curiously.

"He's been looking for me all week," He told his bewildered brother, "Now uhhh…if you'll excuse me…I lost him in the next hall and uhhh…I have to go."

Zack nodded blindly as he released Cody who ran off in the opposite direction. "Have I really been that worried about Martha? That I forgot about Cody?" He thought miserably.

"Stupid worrying," He mumbled.

"Zack, are you okay?" Rebecca asked, worry evident in her voice. Zack nodded again as he slammed his locker door shut and walked off to his fourth period class, shaking his head as he went.

Zack sat slumped over his books in his history class about two hours later, just about asleep when,

"Zackary Martin?" Zack jumped and lifted his head from his books as he glanced quickly about the classroom.

"Huh?" He said stupidly. The class snickered. Mr. Wilson frowned at him, sighing as Zack continued to stare around the room hoping to find the answer in one of his peers' faces.

"Zack…" Mr. Wilson repeated, "Your answer please?"

"Uhmmm…"

Mr. Wilson sighed, "Miss Hoyt can you help Mr. Martin?"

"Jimmy Carter served as president from January 20, 1977 to January 20th, 1981," A girl in the second row answered. Zack rolled his eyes.

"Very good, Cess. Thank you. Moving on…" Mr. Wilson turned to write something on the chalkboard and Cody turned to Zack from the front of the room, puzzled. He knew very well that Zack knew those dates. After all, President Carter was his favorite president and he drilled Zack with facts about him all the time. Zack shrugged and slouched lower in his seat.

"Stupid Carter. Stupid Cess. Stupid history."

Zack left history twenty minutes later with a frown on his face. It wasn't that he really cared for school or getting answers right, he just didn't find it amusing being humiliated in front of the entire class, especially when he wasn't doing the humiliating.

As he was heading to his locker he noticed a crowd of boys surrounding the bulletin board by the school office. Finding this kind of weird, Zack edged his way through the crowd to find the source that was attracting the crowd. This turned out to be a sign which read in bold letters:

Boys' Basketball Tryouts

September 12, 2005

4:30 P.M.

Gym A

"You gunna try-out?" asked a voice from behind him. Zack whirled around to come face to face with Bob, whom he'd hardly spoken to all year standing behind him, also checking out the sign. He shook his head slowly in response and made his way out of the crowd.

He knew he couldn't possibly play, let alone even try-out. Running was pretty tough and besides that he'd probably miss at least half the practices because he'd be sick. He really did want to though.

"Stupid try-outs," He muttered as he kicked a stray pencil lying on the ground, sending it skittering down the hall.

"Hey!" Raine greeted brightly as Cody came, or rather ran, up to her locker near the end of the day. He glanced around himself for about a minute.

"Drew still after you?"

Cody nodded.

"I told you not to do it."

Cody stopped abruptly in his glancing, "You wouldn't understand, Raine."

Raine rolled her eyes exasperatedly, "You guys walking home today?"

Cody shrugged. Last year they'd walked to and from school every single day. But lately, Carey seemed to show up conveniently after school, "Hope not." If they were, it would be the perfect time for Drew to return his punch.

"Okay…well I have to find Rebecca so I guess I'll see you guys later?"

"Yeah…" Cody said with a nod as she turned and started to walk down the hall, "Raine wait!"

Raine stopped.

"If you see Zack, will you try to talk to him for me?"

"Why? Did something happen?" Raine asked, a bit startled.

Cody nodded, "Martha had another stroke last night and I…I'm worried about him.

"Oh…" Raine said with clear understanding, "Yeah. Yeah I can."

"Okay."

Raine turned to go again.

"Raine?"

"Yeah?" She asked turning around again.

"Thanks."

Zack shoved his science book into his locker some time later, scowling furiously when it wouldn't fit right and caused a bunch of papers and books to topple out of the locker, scattering all over the hall.

"Stupid locker," He muttered under his breath as he rushed to gather them.

A familiar hand reached out and grabbed a handful of papers.

"Thanks, Raine," Zack mumbled, taking them from her. Raine smiled and then wrinkled up her nose at the sight of his locker.

"It's only been two weeks of school," she pointed out, "Your locker's a mess."

"Thanks for the update," Zack muttered, shoving more papers into his locker.

"Cody told me about…" Raine began.

"Martha?" He finished for her. She nodded.

"I'm really sorry, Zack."

Zack nodded silently.

"But she's gunna be okay, ya know?"

He shrugged, "That's what everyone keeps saying…but…they don't really know.

"Well of course they don't!" Raine told him and then softened her voice, "But…you've gotta have some faith. I mean we had faith you were gunna get better…and you did."

"My situation was a whole lot different, Raine. And…I'm not entirely better."

Raine frowned slightly, "But you're alive aren't you? A lot of people said you wouldn't be."

Silence fell between the two as Zack recalled this thought.

"Cody's worried about you," Raine told him after a few minutes.

Zack didn't say anything.

"Zack, she is gunna be okay."

"Swear?" He asked, looking up at her.

Raine shook her head, "I can't swear to it…but…she is. I can feel it."

Zack nodded, feeling a bit better. He picked up the last of the papers and slammed his locker shut.

About fifteen minutes later, Cody paced the mostly deserted school parking lot. Zack let out a loud groan from behind him.

"Can't we just walk home? It's not that big of a deal, Cody."

Cody shook his head briskly, "No…she's been coming all week. What makes today any different?"

"It's Friday," Zack pointed out, "She probably has to rehearse for her show tonight."

Cody shrugged. He knew Zack was right. Their mother did have to rehearse sometime. And he had a feeling she hadn't done any all week. He was about to say this when he say something that froze him to the spot. Drew and his group were walking towards them menacingly. Without stopping to think he screamed, "RUN!" and took off.

Quickly processing this, Zack, Raine, and Rebecca took off after him- their feet pounding the asphalt, backpacks clanging against their backs.

Cody bolted around a corner and down the next street, having absolutely no clue where he was going. All he cared about was getting away from Drew. He could hear the others' voices behind him.

"Turn here, Cody!" came Rebecca's directions. She'd lived in Boston for most of her life and knew nearly every twist and turn.

"Cody, slow down!" That was Raine. She was never much of a runner. He couldn't hear Zack though and he had a guilty feeling that was because he was shoving all of his energy into running. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Nether the less, he continued to run, desperate to lose Drew, whom he could hear in the distance.

After a while, he lost himself in the blur of buildings they passed and the hot September sun beating down from above. He could still hear the voices behind him, but they'd blended together and he only bothered to make out Rebecca's directions.

Finally, after what seemed like hours they came upon the park and Cody, ready to collapse, paused and whirled around. The other three soon caught up with him, Zack hacking. Cody felt his stomach lurch guiltily, this was definitely not a good idea. But they'd lost Drew, and they were only about three blocks from the Tipton.

Strange, though, he didn't feel like going back, no matter how thirsty or tired he felt. He'd been cooped up in their suite studying like a madman. Eighth grade wasn't quite as easy as he'd expected and it felt good to be outdoors again.

So instead of helping Zack off the swing, where he'd landed and walking back to the hotel like he should've, he flopped tiredly onto the swing next to Zack and sort of stared at the thick clouds rolling across the bright blue sky as if suddenly it was the most beautiful thing in the world. And soon…he could feel himself drifting, flying…gone.

"Cody…Cody…CODY!"

Cody yelped and nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt something hard jab into his shin. Eyes open, he glanced around wildly. He was still sitting on the swing, but the sky was tinged a light pinkish orange. Zack was laughing at him.

"Don't do that!" Cody yelled angrily, glaring and slapping his brother. Embarrassed he lowered himself back onto the swing, rubbing his cheek which had an imprint of the swing's silver chain on it. Well it wasn't entirely his fault. He glanced up at Zack wearily. Waking up to Zack's crying every five minutes wasn't exactly what he called a good night's sleep.

Raine smiled and pulled him off the swing, "Come on. We have to get back.

He nodded, relishing for half a second in the fact that he was holding her hand again.

The Tipton Hotel soon loomed in front of them. Exhausted, the four climbed the front steps, ignoring the employees' greetings as they made their way into the elevator and up to the twenty-third floor. Once there, the twins bid goodbye to Rebecca and Raine, who'd decided to stay the night at Rebecca's and entered their own suite.

They could tell at once something was wrong.

Carey was sitting at the table, her head in her hands, phone resting on the table next to her.

"Mom?" Cody ventured nervously, "What's wrong?"

Carey looked up as though surprised to see them. The look passed after a minute though and she beckoned for them to follow her to the couch. They did so; Zack's heart pounding furiously- even harder than it had been the previous evening.

"We need to talk," She began. Zack's chest tightened. "The hospital just called," Zack felt like he was about to pass out. He half-wished he would, and then he wouldn't have to listen to whatever she had to tell them. "There's no easy way to say this," Zack wished he could go deaf on cue; Cody gripped the edge of the couch.

"Boys, Martha passed away this evening." Zack's heart dropped. It took just a few seconds to register. "Martha's gone. She's really gone."

Zack leapt off the couch and rushed stiffly to their room, ignoring his mother's comments about talking about it. He collapsed onto his bed and let the tears come willingly.

"Martha's gone. She's not coming back. She's really really gone," He whispered.

"Stupid dying."

Author's Note: Predictable? It seemed kind of predictable to me but then again, that's just me. Oh and...since I seem to make innumerable mistakes while writing chapters I decided to dedicate a small portion of my updates to "goofs." So hope you enjoy those...Oh and one more thing...I may update The Good Samaritan sometime this week. So if you haven't read that...please do :)

Goofs:

1. I spelled and as ant

2. I spelled felt as felf

3. I spelled Raine as Raind

4. I spelled Hoyt as Howt

5. I spelled Jimmy as Jummy

6. I repetitively spelled Martha as Marthat

7. I typed two years instead of two days

8. I wrote she instead of he for Zack.

Until next time...

Please Review :)

Fig