A/N: Good news! I'm finally updating! I hope you like it.
Zack yawned and stretched as he sat up in bed. He had just woken up, and his eyes were still adjusting. Once they were fine, he got up. Cody was already up and sitting on the couch in the living room watching television. He heard Zack walk in, and looked at Zack.
"What time is it?" Zack asked.
"8:24," replied Cody.
"Is it still snowing?" asked Zack, hope in his eyes.
"Yup!" replied Cody with excitement.
"Well, we need to wake mom up first, she can develop our pictures for us!"
"Good idea."
They went into her room, and turned on the light. They started shaking her awake. She raised her arms, and rubbed her eyes. She then slowly opened them.
"What time is it," she asked.
"8:24," replied Cody.
Carrie shot up, her eyes opened wide. She frantically looked at the clock. It now read 8:25.
"Oh my goodness. I forgot to set my alarm. I have to get wardrobe, pick out songs, and get ready for my Christmas concert tonight," she said worriedly.
"Well, while you're out, can you develop our pictures for us?" asked Zack.
"Yes," she replied.
Cody bolted into their room, and was back within seconds with the camera. He set it on her dresser, and they went downstairs and outside to play in the snow some more. They found Maddie out there as well, lying in the snow, making a snow angel.
Zack grinned, and they both went over there. Zack looked down at her admirably.
"No snow angel is angelic as you, baby," he said.
"Awww, that's sweet," she said, smiling.
She didn't know why, but lately she had been greatly appreciating Zack's compliments. She tried to shake it out of her head, but every time he said them, it made her feel good on the inside.
After the three talked for a while, Maddie walked inside, since her shift started at 9 o'clock. The twins then started thinking of something. Maddie had mentioned it would be cool to have a Christmas Battle of the Bands.
"You know, we could suggest this idea to Moseby. We could hold it here at the Tipton, like last time," said Zack.
"Yeah, and I already have some lines for a song that we could write," said Cody.
"I could take up a piano part in it, since I took piano lessons last year," said Zack. He continued, "And you took guitar so you could do a guitar part in it. Max and Tapeworm took voice lessons as well, so our band can reach a whole new level with this Battle of the Bands."
"Yeah. There could be an entry fee of fifteen dollars for every band, and tickets could be five dollars each. Then there could be a cash prize of five hundred to the first place winner, two hundred fifty to second place, and one hundred to third," said Cody while brainstorming.
"Come, on, we need to find Mr. Moseby!" said Zack excitedly.
They ran into the hotel, and saw Moseby at the front desk, where he always was. They jumped down the stairs, and ran to the front desk.
"No running her in the lobby, boys. You could break something," said Moseby, not even looking up.
"Whatever. We have something to request," said Zack.
"What?" asked Moseby, still not looking up.
Cody explained their ideas, and Mr. Moseby nodded through his explanation.
"Well, boys, I'm surprised. This idea is actually well thought-out. It is a wonderful idea. I will say yes to it!" he said, thinking of how much money it would make the Tipton.
"Yes!" shouted the twins excitedly.
While Mr. Moseby began thinking of ways to advertise it, the boys went upstairs to their room, and called Max and Tapeworm, and asked them if they could spend the night tonight to do all the stuff needed to prepare for the Battle of the Bands. They both were allowed, they said they would be over ASAP.
"Hey guys, what's up?" asked Max as she arrived at the door two hours later. She had two small bags with her.
"Come on in, Tapeworm's already here. Now we can get started!" exclaimed Cody, who had answered the door.
Max followed him to Zack and Cody's room, and threw her bags in the corner.
"So, which should we talk about first, beat or lyrics?" asked Zack.
"Well, we should start doing beat, so we can match the lyrics to go with the beat well," said Tapeworm.
"Okay, sounds good," said Zack.
"How about this?" said Tapeworm. He started drumming a beat with his hands on the floor.
"No, it sounds too much like a rock song instead of a holiday song," said Max inquisitively. Cody agreed.
They started thinking more. After about an hour or so of thinking, Max started drumming a beat. Tapeworm followed by drumming a slow, peaceful sounding counter addition to the beat. Both Zack and Cody thought it sounded good, as well as Max and Tapeworm.
"What Tapeworm was doing could be the piano part, and Max's could be the guitar," suggested Zack.
They all agreed. For a while, they played the beat in there hands, noting where it would be higher or lower pitches. After about two hours, they had written one verse down in music writing. They had all learned how to read and write music.
"How should the chorus go?" asked Max.
"Well, it needs to flow in with the first verse, but be kind of a different paced beat," replied Zack, thinking.
"How about the guitar part slow down a little, and the piano speed up a little, and then kind of go like this," suggested Tapeworm, drumming on the floor again.
"It is good, but maybe more like this," suggested Zack.
He drummed something very similar to Tapeworm's beat, but just a little different. They all agreed it was good.
"How many verses should there be?" asked Zack.
"How about verse, chorus, verse, chorus two times, shorter verse, and then the chorus again, but fading?" Cody thought aloud.
"Sounds good, but we could add the chorus at the beginning," inquired Tapeworm.
They all agreed again, and continued writing the music for the song.