Chapter 6:
"Gees Cody, I don't know," I tell him, feeling sort of uncomfortable.
I mean, what would you say if somebody was almost heartbroken about not being best friends with his twin anymore. Ok… he's not heartbroken, I know, I'm exaggerating. But still… what would you say?
I just sort of pat him awkwardly on the back, and he turns away. But not before I see the tear that runs down his cheek.
Tears make me nervous.
I usually try my hardest not to cry. It makes me feel vulnerable and helpless. Ok, I know you're thinking about last night, but I bet you would cry too.
Cody, on the other hand, cries when he needs to. I'm sort of jealous of that, if you must know the truth. He's not afraid to show what he really feels. Sometimes I wish I could be more like him.
Before I have to say something else though, the bus arrives at school. We're here.
xxx
Ok, first period's over—I managed to tell Miss Evans some long, made-up story that involved llamas and hotdogs and Armageddon. She didn't buy it, but she gave me credit for creativity. I still got a zero, and now I have two assignments to finish by tomorrow.
Cody was pretty quiet during math, even though Agnes was trying to flirt with him—yes, Agnes is in our advanced placement math class too and she still holds her huge crush on Cody—only she's not so obsessive anymore. (Agnes is someone who has really changed. Well, at least appearance-wise. She lost the glasses because she got contacts, got her braces off, and her hair's a lot calmer-looking now. And Max has changed some too, I guess. She looks a lot prettier now. I don't really feel like saying anything, because Zack will be after me, but the point is we've changed). I could tell Cody was thinking really hard about the whole thing with Zack, so I didn't say anything.
Anyway, next period's science—which I am now thankfully excused from, only I have to write another paper—this time ten pages, on how to properly dissect a sheep's eye. Cody's not excused because he didn't mess up like I did. I can tell that he'd rather write a paper with me though.
Anyway, I'm sitting outside the lab in this room called the forum, scribbling out my essay—a teacher once described my writing as "chicken scratch." You should see Cody's writing—it's perfectly rounded and small and neat, like a font… or a girl's for that matter. Anyway, I start rubbing away with my eraser—ok, I know I messed up already—and the paper rips. I get up to go get another one, but then I realized I left all my stuff in my locker. I'm on my way over to my locker, and I see Zack.
Yeah, it's not really unusual to see Zack late—he's late for class a lot—but I'm sort of surprised that he's late for dissection. Yeah, I told you how much he liked dissection, didn't I? So why would he be late?
Zack's talking to some of those other kids—well, basically I mean the jocks. The kids that made the basketball team yesterday—one's Drew, of course.
And for the first time in my life, I think Zack looks kind of worried. Amazing.
"Come on, Zack, do it," Drew's saying. "It's not that hard. I mean, it's not like you care about him anymore."
"Dude, Drew," Zack is trying to defend himself. "This is my brother we're talking about here. My mom would kill me if I did that to him."
"Well, ok, Zack. It looks like you don't have what it has to be part of the team. I'm disappointed in you man."
Ok, what are they talking about? It involves Cody—I got that. It involves hurting Cody in some way—I got that too. But Zack wouldn't do anything to hurt his twin, would he? How could he even think about it? Cody loves him more than he deserves. Cody worships him. Stupid jock that Zack Martin is. (No offense to all you jocks out there). I've never understood him… or any other jock, but when have I been accepted in society?
Anyway, by now Zack has finished talking to Drew, and his face is sort of pale but determined. Like he has a really good idea of what he's about to do.
"Zack," I say, walking over to him. "What was that about?"
"Shut up freak," he says, with his weird angry look. He heads off to Science.
Wow. Someone's in a bad mood. I get my stuff and go back to the desk and start writing on how to properly dissect the stupid eye. Not like I would ever do it, of course.
xxx
I'm at the Tipton with Max and Cody. See, we always have band practice there. Well, Max's parents are all conservative and they don't like our music. I always make up a story about my house being checked for termites or something, because I really don't want to see my dad. So that leaves us the Tipton.
As long as we stay in the sound-proof laundry room, Mr. Moseby is alright with it.
Anyway, Cody's looking around. "Where's Zack?"
I shrug. I haven't seen Zack since this afternoon.
"Basketball," says Max.
This look of pain flashes across Cody's face really fast, and it disappears pretty quickly too. I don't say anything.
Anyway, Cody gets everything set up—we keep all our stuff in this storage closet, and the hotel hasn't noticed yet, seeing that the cleaning lady—I think her name is Myrtle or Muriel or something—never does any work. I set up my drums, and Cody pulls out the keyboard and Max has her bass.
We're currently working on this song called "Redemption" and bluntly putting it, we're pretty bad. Well, Zack's usually our main singer, but Max is the best—just saying that she's a girl and everything. Zack's just the main singer because he's the person that sort of fits the role. Outgoing, leader, everything. Max sort of takes over since Zack's not here today.
Loves the most dangerous game,
Snipping and clipping your heart away
Everyone's bringing something new,
But as they leave so does a piece of you.
Pick up the pieces part by part,
There's not enough glue to mend your heart
Be careful the pieces cut like glass
Take a look at your hands, the blood, the mess
She sings softly. Max is pretty good… Cody cannot sing. Zack cannot sing. I cannot sing. Cody writes all the lyrics, and I swear, he's good at it. His favorite band, personally, is Relient K because he loves their lyrics. They're smart you can tell—well I mean, some bands aren't so intelligent. I mean, Relient K uses words like "proverbial" and "reverberating." It's just not something most bands use.
We practice for like half an hour and then at the last minute Zack comes in all sweaty and flustered in his basketball uniform.
"Where were you?" Cody demands.
"Basketball," says Zack, shrugging indifferently.
"You were supposed to be here!" Cody says. "You promised. I mean, Armageddon needs you. We need you."
Well, in my opinion, maybe Cody and Max need Zack, but I do not. I could live life a whole lot better without him.
"I'm sorry, alright?" Zack puts his hands up in defeat. "But the team and I stopped for pizza. It was pretty sweet. I mean, I'm sorry I missed practice, but hanging out with the team was gnarly."
Ok. When has Zack used the words sweet and gnarly? Hanging out with the jocks is getting to him.
Cody looks like he's going to cry. Cody tends to be really over-sensitive. I found that out when I was over at the Martins' suite and Mrs. Martin sucked up some dust bunnies with a vacuum. Cody started bawling, and it made me feel pretty bad too. I mean, I had never noticed how cute the dust bunnies were before.
"Well, we needed you! And you left us for the team!"
"Well, I hate to break it to you Cody, but the team needs me! And just because it doesn't need you, gives you no right to get mad at me! I'm sorry you didn't make the team, but I found out that I needed the team more than I need you right now! And maybe the coaches finally decided to admit that one twin has more talent than the other! So deal with it!"
Cody's lip is trembling, and he turns and leaves the room. But not before I notice a tear run down his cheek.
Something heats up inside of me—just like yesterday with Dad. I turn around and face Zack.
"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO YOUR BROTHER? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOU HURT HIM?" I scream.
Zack looks at me. "I really don't care Tapeworm," he says in a selfish hiss. "I really don't care. I don't care about Cody anymore."
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