CHAPTER NINE

I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did.

Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves.

The next day at school, Maya, Addison and Bailey were all going through the lunch line together. And Maya and Addison were very interested in how things had gone with Cody the day before.

Bailey sighed. "He's still upset..."

Maya just shook her head. "I still don't understand what happened. He actually leaned in to kiss you and you rebuffed him?"

"Don't ask..."

"Why not? Bailey, its obvious that this is about more than just the money now. Why is it so hard to admit that you actually like Cody?"

Bailey took a deep breath. "You wouldn't understand..."

"Try me...And don't think I didn't notice you pretty much just admitted that you do really like him."

Addison spoke up. "Sweet love, renew thy force!"

Bailey just looked at her. "Hey keep it down! People can hear you..."

Maya spoke up. "Look, he opened up to you that night. From what Zack tells me, that's a major accomplishment all its own. So, on some level, Cody has an interest in you. But when you rejected him, you embarrassed him. You have to even the score..."

"What do you mean?"

Maya smiled. "Show him that you are willing to embarrass yourself for him too. Sacrifice yourself on the alter of dignity. You know, even the score so both of you have now been humiliated."

Bailey just looked at her, but she had to admit to herself that what Maya had said did make sense. But the question she had now was how to do that. So, lost in though, she just walked away.

Addison slid closer to Maya. "Hey, keep it down! People can hear you."

The rest of the day, Bailey kept thinking about what she was going to do. Now, she did keep up with her studies, and she was several weeks ahead on all of her assignments. Being a loner/recluse, she had plenty of time to waste, and homework filled the bill. So, she felt she was entitled to zone out a little bit and consider her dilemma. And that's when the perfect idea hit her. She thought it would work, but she was going to need some help.

And get help is just what she did. There was someone she had to find, and once she told her of her plan and slipped her a twenty dollar bill, her plan was set. She only hoped Cody appreciated what she was about to do.

As for Cody, he was in the middle of another grueling soccer practice. And his teammates knew Cody was in a particularly foul mood and he was being more aggressive than ever. Cody didn't mean to be intentionally, but he was still so upset with himself. What was the old expression, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me? Well, Cody was still kicking himself for not learning the lesson the first time. Why had Bailey intrigued him so much? He knew there was something different about her, but he couldn't quite figure out what that was. Yes, she was beautiful. And yes, she seemed really cool and beyond all of the other nonsense everyone else couldn't seem to stop obsessing about. But what he couldn't seem to fathom was why she kept trying with him. He knew he wasn't making things easier on her with his attitude, but he was just trying to protect himself. And then he remembered Friday night. How had he been so stupid? Like an idiot, he leaned in for a kiss, but one was not forthcoming. Cody just shook his head when he heard something.

"You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off you. You'd be like heaven to touch. I wanna hold you so much." Cody looked around trying to find out where that sound was coming from. And he wasn't the only one. Everyone on the athletic field had stopped what they were doing to try to find the source of their interruption. And to Cody, that voice sounded so familiar. "At long last love has arrived. And I thank God I'm alive. You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off you."

And that's when Cody saw her. At the top of the bleachers, there she was...a microphone in one hand and pointing at him with the other. It was Bailey. Cody was speechless. Briefly, he wondered why she was doing this, but this was quickly overcome by realizing that why ever she was doing this, she was doing it for him. And that realization send a shiver down his spine and cause his heart to begin beating very rapidly. And it also put the biggest smile on his face. Cody didn't think anything else could surprise him now, but he was to be wrong. Just then, the school's marching band began playing accompaniment to Bailey's singing.

"I love you baby, and if it's quite all right, I need you baby to warm a lonely night. I love you baby. Trust in me when I say: Oh pretty baby, don't bring me down I pray. Oh pretty baby, now that I found you, stay. And let me love you, oh baby let me love you..."

Cody was now completely blown away. And instead of just singing, Bailey was giving a full on performance as she did. She was dancing throughout the bleachers, and Cody's eyes didn't leave her for a second. Unfortunately, his attention wasn't the only attention her performance had gotten. A large school security guard had been sent to stop the ruckus. And poor Kirby. He was having trouble keeping up with Bailey who was eluding him rather easily.

While Kirby was hunched over to catch his breath, Bailey was able to stop and point at Cody again as she delivered her last lyric. Everyone began applauding her, but none more than Cody. The smile was still on his face, and he didn't think anything could wipe it off. And he couldn't help but laugh. Maybe he had been wrong about being wrong about her. And if she was willing to do this just to get his attention, he had to let her know that she had definitely gotten it. Only problem was Kirby did eventually catch her. Cody paused and thought.

"My turn now."

While many appreciated Bailey's show, it was still enough for her to get detention. And at Cheevers High, that meant spending an afternoon with Mr. Moseby. Bailey had already signed in and was just sitting there waiting for her sentence to be over.

Mr. Moseby tried sitting down on the edge of his desk, but when he did, he felt a sharp pain shoot through him. He wasn't sure how he had forgotten about being shot in the butt with an arrow. So, instead of sitting, he began walking around the room like a guard. And that's when he noticed a girl was looking a little different.

"What's up with you?"

The girl shook her head. "I broke up with my boyfriend, Mr. Moseby."

Moseby just looked at her. "You're eyes are watering. Have you been crying?"

The girl nodded. "Yes, sir."

Moseby paused and looked down. Quickly, he reached down and grabbed her pocket handkerchief. "I'm confiscating this!"

Everyone looked at Mr. Moseby wondering if really had just done that. Well, almost everyone. Bailey was still wondering what Cody's reaction to her little stunt would be. And she didn't have long to find out.

Within a minute, the door to the detention room opened, and in walked Cody. He immediately walked up to Moseby as Bailey watched.

"Mr. Moseby...Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Moseby looked up. "What is it Martin?"

"Well, its about the boys' soccer team. I think I have some ideas about how to improve ourselves."

"Great! We'll talk about it later." And with that, Moseby turned towards his desk. Quickly, Cody turned and looked at Bailey. She smiled at him, and then noticed he was trying to say something. Finally, she realized he was pointing to the window as in she should escape through it.

Moseby turned and looked at Cody again. "You still here, Martin?"

Cody paused and grabbed Moseby's arm to get his attention to divert it away from Bailey. "Well, umm, as you know, we have a big game coming up with James Woods High. As you know, they are a big rivals of ours, and we need to really be on the top of our games."

And with Moseby's attention diverted, Bailey gathered her things, and slipped down the aisle behind Moseby and towards the window.

Moseby sighed. "I understand that, Martin. But what can we do? They are a private school, and as much as they say they don't recruit, we all know they do." Moseby thought he heard something and began turn when Cody grabbed him by the arms again.

"That's why we have to play smarter than them!"

Moseby was about to look again, but Cody wouldn't let him. "Cody, what is going on with you today?"

Cody was a little panicked by the two close calls, but tried to keep his calm. "Nothing Mr. Moseby. We just have to dig into our bag of tricks, you know?"

By this time, Bailey was halfway out the window, and Cody, with his eyes, beckoned her to keep going. Moseby was still oblivious to all of this.

"And just what tricks would that be?"

Moseby heard a noise and was about to turn and catch Bailey red-handed when Cody just reacted. "Like this!" He reached out and placed one hand on Moseby's shoulder and the other on Moseby's forehead. And immediately, Moseby dropped like a rock. Cody looked over and sighed with relief to see Bailey was now gone. Turning his attention back, he helped Moseby stand back up.

And Moseby was glaring at Cody. "What was that?"

Cody swallowed. "The strike of the sleeping cobra? You know, we do that a couple of times, their player drops and we can score easily..."

Moseby paused. "Not bad, Martin...Not bad. I'd do just about anything to finally beat Coach Ilsa."

Cody nodded. "Me too, Sir. Well, I'll let you get back to your detention group." And with that, Cody walked out of the classroom with everyone looking at him and wondering what the heck he had just done. And to be honest, Cody wasn't sure himself. But, he did know he felt really good about it.

Of course, once he left the classroom, he found Bailey waiting on him. Both realized they needed to talk, but both knew the school wasn't the best place as Bailey was supposed to be in detention. So, they decided to head to a place that didn't think they would run into anyone they knew. So, it was about thirty minutes later that they were in a paddle boat out on Puget Sound. And both were having a good time and laughing.

Bailey turned to Cody. "I can't thank you enough for busting me out of detention."

Cody smiled. "Not a problem."

Bailey smiled back. "I thought for sure I was busted when I was climbing out of that window. How did you keep him distracted?"

Cody paused. "Ummm...I just showed him a way to beat our rival next week."

"Well, whatever you did, I truly appreciate."

"Lets just say that after you performance, I had to do something to show my appreciation. My only regret is that Kirby took you away before I could ask for an encore."

Bailey laughed. "Thanks." She paused. "So, what's your excuse?"

"For what?"

"For acting the way we do. To everyone else in school, we're two of the meanest, angriest, antisocial outcasts that ever lived."

Cody paused again. "I don't like doing what other people expect. Why should I live up to their expectations and not my own? I mean, all these people who think they are the cool kids now are going to go on to live average lives. I want my life to be extraordinary. And like Frank Sinatra said, I'll do it my way."

Bailey nodded. "So, you were disappointed from the start, and you've just been covering since then?"

Cody smiled and nodded. "Something like that."

Bailey nodded again. "Then you screwed up..."

Cody turned to her. "How?"

Bailey just looked at him. "You never disappointed me."

For the second time that day, Cody couldn't help but smile. Bailey smiled back before she noticed something off in the distance.

"You up for it?"

"Up for what?"

Bailey just pointed, and Cody began to laugh. "You're on!"

And ten minutes later, Cody and Bailey were engaged a competitive round of laser tag. Both were alternating chasing the other around and shooting. Both were getting shot a lot, but neither one really cared as they were both having a lot of fun. And at one point, instead of just shooting Cody, Bailey just tackled him. And when they landed, she was laying on top of him, just staring into his blue eyes.

"You know...there's something I've wanted to do since last Friday."

Cody was staring back into her beautiful brown eyes with just a hint of green. "What?"

"This!" And with that, Bailey leaned down and captured Cody's lips with her own. Cody could do nothing...and wanted to do nothing more than return that kiss. So, he did. And neither one was in any hurry to break it.

To be Continued...

AN: For those who have seen the original movie, there were four parts of the movie I wondered how to make more in tune with the SL universe. One was in the last chapter, one is in this chapter, one will be in the next chapter, and one in probably the chapter after that. As for how much longer this will go on, I'm thinking 3 or 4 more chapters. To give you an idea, the youtube site I'm using to make sure I have the correct order of things has 11 parts to it. Thus far, I'm up to the beginning of part 9...if that makes any sense. lol