Nice, guys. NICE. FOUR. I suppose I have to put more substance for this...fine...I'm an impatient person.

Hmm...the beginning.

Disclaimer: I'm lazy. see chapter one.

She's not supposed to, but every now and then, Maddie Fitzpatrick likes to save a couple candy bars for the twins. It's her way of saying thanks for buying all her candy and helping her keep her job.

Today, she's saved a plain Hershey's bar, just for Zack (his favorite). It's her way of saying thanks for coming to her sweet sixteen.

She isn't disappointed; a few minutes into her break, the said twin cruises into the lobby on his skateboard. His clone is nowhere to be seen.

"What's up, Maddie?" She cracks a smile.

"Hey, Zack. I've got this for you." He takes the proffered candy with slight hesitation. "I didn't do...anything to it." Zack scoffs.

"Yeah."

"No, really. I want to thank you. For. Y'know. Showing up to my sweet sixteen instead of going to London's. It was sweet of you." Zack cracks a smile back.

"Yeah," he says, with slightly less callousness. "Yeah, well. You're welcome. And thanks for the candy!" he adds as he cruises away. Even from the other side of the room, she can tell he's blushing.

She laughs for a moment before Moseby's stink eye sends her scurrying back to the counter.

"I'm telling you man, she's so into me now!" Zack talks excitedly to Cody. They're now freshmen in high school, and Zack has yet to give up his crush. Cody breaks off the corner of a plain Hershey's bar and chews in delight.

"She's three years older than you." Zack points to his twin in an exaggerated emphasis.

"Two and a half."

"Whatever," Cody continues, his speech slurred by the melting chocolate. "We're freshmeat. She's a junior." He takes a second to scrape the remnants of deliciousness from the roof of his mouth with his tongue. "Never gonna happen!" Zack glares at him.

"Hey. Is that mine?"

Cody suddenly pauses in breaking off another piece. "Nnnnooo." Nevertheless, his older counterpart snatches the wrapper from him.

"That's mine! You said that your favorite was Butterfingers!"

"That was my last favorite!" Zack hurriedly stuffs the rest of the bar into his mouth. It could be a triumphant gesture if only it isn't a king size. As it is, Zack now looks like he's chewing furiously on a Frisbee.

"Ee! Oo can haf meh hocolae!" Cody shrugs hopelessly.

"There's chocolate—" he emphasizes the 't' "—drool running down your chin."

"Hey there," Maddie calls out to Cody. She's finally a senior. Finally, finally, finally. "Two Hershey's?"

"Nah," the blonde boy says. In the past two years, he's hit a ridiculous growth spurt, and now towers at least a head over Maddie. "That's Zack's favorite." His voice slightly squeaks at 'fa,' but for the most part, it's deepened sufficiently.

"Uh huh." They lapse into an awkward silence.

"So. Um. What schools are you applying to?" Cody asks, rather forwardly.

"I dunno. Harvard. Columbia. Oo, I'm applying to Stanford, but that's only because I'll be closer to London. She's already in at the Los Angeles School of Fashion Design and something else no one remembers." Cody screws up his face.

"Do you want to be closer to London?" Maddie considers.

"No, not so much," she replies instantly.

"Thought so." There's a few more seconds of silence. Cody spends it looking around the lobby. "Um. Where do you want to go?"

"Columbia," she says promptly.

"Not...Harvard?" He sounds slightly disappointed. She smiles absently.

"I want to be close to Broadway. Maybe not NYU close, but they've still got a great program at Columbia. I'm not good at laws and science and stuff like you, Cody. You go to Harvard." He smiles back, equally absent.

"I hope you get in, Maddie." He pauses for a second. "Can I get those Hershey's?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure. I hope I get in, too."

If you don't get the format...well...

I know that Maddie's supposed to be 16, and the twins are supposed to be 13, but I'm twisting the grades...maybe Maddie's just an old sophmore. I don't know, the whole idea of Zack logically dating Maddie (as portrayed by the majority of the fics on this site.) would seem less weird. Ten years down the line, it wouldn't matter, but in high school...yeah.

You know the drill. Now your owe me more. TWELVE over all before the next chapter. No giving in for you.