Haha I REALLY need to work on this updating thing don't I? LOL! Anyways wrote this some yesterday and some today. And I'm workin on Ch. 7 of How A Heart Breaks so hopefully that'll be up soon. Anyways I don't have anything more to say except if my grammer's off or spelling or something, I wrote this like at 9:30-10 last night and I was kinda tired and I wrote it right after school and yeah I put my mind on hold LOL.

Enjoy:

Chapter 2:

Gradually the crowd wandered away having found something more interesting to stare at. Or perhaps they needed to be somewhere. Or maybe…Maddie didn't know or care. All she cared about was the small, whimpering figure cuddled up in her arms.

"Cody…please. Please tell me what's going on."

Cody shook his head, a wracking sob shaking his body.

"C'mon…let's go over by the couch." She said looking around at the few people gawking at them. She dragged him up from the floor and they walked over to one of the fancy designer couches.

"Cody…c'mon. Please. What do you want?"

"I want Zack." Cody managed to get out.

"A-alright. Do you want me to go find him?"

"He's in detention." Cody mumbled, suddenly realizing that if Zack had been with him this never would've happened.

"Oh….well he should be back soon, right?"

Cody nodded.

"Cody…I think I should go find your mom…okay?"

Cody nodded again.

"Will you be okay? For a couple minutes?"

Cody nodded once more.

"Alright…I'll be right back." And with that Maddie reluctantly rose from her seat and began her search. It didn't last long. She found Carey rehearsing in the ballroom. She carefully explained the situation, trying to use detail. Carey cringed at parts but nodded and went with her when she was through.

"Cody…sweetie?" Cody glanced up briefly to find himself confronted by his mother, Maddie at her side. His face was still drenched in tears and his sobs were still shaking him. He couldn't get that awful memory out of his head, as hard as he tried. He was slightly embarrassed too. He'd never caused such a scene. At least not at the Tipton. "Are you alright?"

Cody didn't say anything. Carey sat by him and wrapped her arms around him protectively.

"I'll take it from here, Maddie. Thanks." Carey assured her with a smile. Maddie nodded hesitantly but returned to her post where a long line of customers was angrily waiting for her.

"What happened, Cody?" Carey asked after Maddie had left. Cody shook his head. He didn't want to talk about it. He wanted to stop thinking about it.

"Cody…you can tell me." No…he couldn't tell her. He didn't WANT to tell her. He hadn't experienced that horrible flashback since he was seven. He'd thought he'd forgotten it.

"Cody…" He couldn't help it. He broke down again.

"Why is this coming back? Why now? It's been 6 years for God's sake! GO AWAY!"

"Shhh…" Carey calmly comforted him.

"Everything's okay. Everything's going to be fine," She told him; even though she didn't know what she was telling him was going to be fine.

After a long, tear-filled, moment Carey suggested they head upstairs- where they could have at least a bit more privacy and where they could talk about it, whatever 'it' was. Cody agreed, but still clung to her hand as they made their way to the elevator. He didn't particularly care if he was acting like a five year old.

Maddie watched them go with a sigh. She didn't understand it. And Cody was someone she normally understood. But she'd never seen him act so strange. Naturally it bothered her. Actually it hurt. I mean this was one of her best friends so distraught. But that one question kept bugging her, "What's going on!"

"Excuse me?" A young man asked her.

"What?...oh…ummmm…what did you want?" She asked absently, suddenly realizing she'd said that outloud.

The man shook his head and walked away muttering something that sounded like "Lousy teenagers, don't know what they're doing."

Maddie frowned and was just about to chase him down and apologize when Zack appeared at the front doors and her apology was quickly shut down. She raced away from the counter and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Where have you BEEN!" Zack gave her a weird look and shrugged her off.

"In detention. Why?"

Maddie let out a long, slow sigh, closed her eyes and blurted out the entire scenario again. When she opened her eyes again Zack was staring at her. But it wasn't the sort of stare she normally got. His eyes were wide with fear and sort of glazed over. He turned away abruptly.

"Zack…are you okay?"

"Oh, God, no. This can't be THAT bad…"

"Y-yeah. Where'd he go?" He asked looking at her once more. Maddie had never seen such a serious expression on his young face.

"Up to your suite."

"Okay." Zack made to go but Maddie latched onto his arm and turned him around.

"Zack, what's going on?"

Zack shook his head, no.

"Zack. Please. Tell me what's going on!"

"I can't, Maddie." He muttered softly and jerked his arm from her grasp as he ran away.

Reviews PLEASE!

Fig