Chapter 2

Alone Time

The limo swung by the hotel and picked everyone one up and took them to the Stewart's house. Zack was out of the car first and ran into the house.

"Where's Lilly?"

"Nice to see you too Zack." Robbie said as he open the front door.

"She's not here yet Zack." Miley answer him.

But a ringing phone proved otherwise.

"Hello….okay. Quick Zack, open the door." Miley ordered.

Zack ran to the front door and opened it. Lilly came flying through the air and landed perfectly on her board.

"Now that's an entrance!" Zack was in a state of awe.

Lilly stepped off her board, stepped on the back end, flipped it up and grabbed it. Then she walked over to Zack and closed his mouth with her hand.

"Careful Zack. You don't want your tongue to get sun burnt." Lilly laughed.

"Is that board for me?" Zack asked looking at the other board she was holding. Lilly handed the board to Zack and took off the backpack she had on. Inside were pads and a helmet.

"I hope the helmet fits." Lilly said as she handed the helmet to Zack.

"You have your phone, Lilly?" Robbie Ray asked.

"Right here, Mr. Stewart." She held it up.

"Good, I'll call when you need to came back."

With that, Lilly and Zack left.

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"Where's Jackson at?" Maddie asked as she looked around for him.

"He's at the beach with Cooper. They're practicing. Want to watch?" Miley asked.

"Is water wet?" Maddie answered.

"Want to walk with us Cody?"

"Count me in Miley."

Maddie, Cody and Miley went to change into beach attire and headed for the beach. Cody and Miley held hands as they walked. Maddie watched them as they glanced at each other. It was clear to her that they needed to talk and work out how they were feeling right now. Maddie on the other hand was approaching Jackson as an old girlfriend that parted on good terms. She knew he didn't have a girlfriend right now. But it didn't mean she was his girlfriend either. But you never know what time might hold for you. She was hoping for the best.

The volleyball courts came into view. Maddie could tell that several matches were going on. But one match seemed to be the most popular. That was the match that Miley was leading them to. When they got closer, Maddie saw the ball floating through the air. As it started to come down, she saw Jackson raising above the crowd and sending the ball sharply down with a mighty blow. The crowd cheered. As they got closer to the crowd, they parted so that they could pass. Wow, Maddie thought. It was like they knew who we were. Okay, maybe they knew who Miley was. Miley spread out her stuff in a spot that was left open. Some people in the crowd said hi to her and she said hi to other people. The cheering of the crowd brought Maddie to the present. Jackson high-fived his teammate. As he turned around, Jackson saw Maddie. He ran over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Cody, you want to take a walk?"

"Sure, Miley."

They got up, held hands and headed towards Rico's.

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Lilly had taken Zack to her skate park. It was an outdoor park that had everything a roller blader, skater, skateboarder, or Xtreme biker could want.

They were taking a break and were sitting at a table having a sports drink to cool off with.

"So Lilly……" Zack started, "I was just wondering……that is…I was curious…if you feel the same way about me still." The last part came out all in one breath all ran together.

"What? I didn't understand that last part."

"Do you……still like me?"

Lilly was a little shock by the question, but she was thinking the same exact thing. She was just trying to get the courage up to ask herself. As she got ready to answer Zack, who was holding his breath, she started to blush.

She dropped her head and looked at the ground. Then taking a deep breath, she looked up with only her eyes and answered Zack.

"Yes"

"Yes?"

In response, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Zack stood up and pumped his fist in the air.

"YES! YES! YES!" He recovered and noticed people looking at him. He quickly sat back down trying to hide his embarrassment.

"I'll take this as a yes to, 'do you still like me'." Lilly laughed. She looked at the time on her watch to see how much they might have left.

"I figure we have half an hour left before we have to head back."

"Well, what are we waiting on, then?" Zack grabbed his board and helmet and headed back into the park again.

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The ball came sailing over the net on a spike save from the other team. The only problem with the freebie was that it was going to a spot that neither Jackson nor Cooper was at. Since Jackson was closest, he called for the ball and dove at it. Landing on his knees, Jackson bumped the ball up and over his head and then scrambled back to his feet. Cooper adjusted his position and then looked to see where Jackson was at on the sand. Jackson was back and to his left. Cooper made a net set to the left. This gave Jackson his choice of sand on the other side of the net. As Jackson ran to the falling ball, he looked to see where the other team was setting up. The player in front of him was setting up for a block going down the line. His partner was setting up in the far corner. As he reached the net he leapt into the air and made to slam the ball home. At the last moment, he pulled back and dinked the ball down the net. The opponent in the back corner charged the ball and dove for it. The ball fell harmlessly in the sand. Game and Match. Jackson and Cooper congratulated each other and then they came over to Maddie.

"Cooper, I want you to meet a very special friend of mine. This is Maddie. Maddie, this is my partner Cooper."

"So you're the Maddie Jackson keeps talking about." Cooper shook her hand. On hearing what Cooper said about her and Jackson, she flashed a big smile.

"And you are the great Cooper that plays with Jackson." Maddie blushed very hard after she said that. Both Cooper and Jackson laughed.

"I mean plays volleyball with Jackson. Okay, I'm going to hide now."

Jackson put his arm around Maddie and kissed her cheek. The kiss made Maddie forget what she was embarrassed about.

"We better get back to the house so I can get cleaned up for dinner. Hey Cooper, you want to come?"

"I don't want to impose J-man."

"You won't. It's a big get together. Maddie came here with some friends. Plus Oliver and Lilly are going to be there too."

"Okay, I'm going to go home to get cleaned up and be over ASAP."

They packed up their gear and left. Jackson held Maddie's hand.

She was glad she came and was looking forward to a great month.

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Cody and Miley walked to Rico's not really talking about anything just yet, unsure how to start what they both really wanted to talk to each other about.

Once at Rico's, they both got smoothies and sat down at a table. They sipped silently for a few minutes until neither one could take it any longer. They just had to know and they both spoke at the same time.

"Do you still like me?"

"Yes."

"You do?"

"I do."

"It's really scary when you both do that." Oliver said as he came up behind them. He was on his way to Miley's house and saw them there.

Miley and Cody both laughed. Miley's phone rang.

"Hi…….okay…..good. See you at the house. Bye. That was Jackson." Miley said as she closed her phone, "He and Maddie took everything back to the house" she told Cody.

"We better get going then," Cody decided. So the three of them headed back to the house.

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It was becoming quite the party by the time the three of them got there. Jackson had cleaned up and was downstairs helping Maddie get the table ready. Just then Cooper came in with a box of home-made cookies, which he didn't make (yeah right!). In the middle of all of this commotion, the phone rang. Miley got it.

"Lilly and Zack in 10" she yelled. Cooper raced to the door and threw it open as Lilly and Zack landed in the house and kick their boards into their hands. As soon as Lilly had her stuff off, Miley descended on Lilly. The same was true of Zack and Cody. The phone started to ring again.

"Maddie could you get that?" Robbie asked since she was the closest to the phone at this time.

"Hello, Stewart's residents." There was a pause as Maddie listened to the other person.

"Mr. Stewart. It's for you."

"Who is it."

"It's a Jim Baker."

On hearing that name, Miley, Lilly, Oliver, Jackson, and Cooper, Jackson had filled Cooper in, stopped talking.

"Hold on Maddie, I'll take it in my office."

"Mr. Baker, Mr. Stewart is going to his office."

"Okay Maddie, I'm on."

Maddie hung the phone up.

"Come on, let's go call Maggie up in my room." Miley told the others.

The twins looked at Maddie who looked at Carey who shrugged her shoulders.

"Let's follow." Cody said.

The twins and Maddie followed everyone else up to Miley's room.

"That's okay. I'll hold the fort down." Carey said to no one.