Episode 9

"Senior Moments"

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

Wait...In this story, I created some of the characters, so I will actually own them.

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

And as to the ones I create, who they are is up to me, so...

New Haven

After getting a brief tour of the suite, it was time for everyone to call it a night. While Cody and Bailey were worn out from moving all day, Zack and Maya were exhausted after a day of fun at the amusement park. Plus, they had gotten up way earlier than they were used to that morning. Of course, when it was time to go to bed, Zack tried to unsuccessfully argue that since they were the guests that Cody and Bailey should let he and Maya have their bedroom for the night. Naturally, Cody and Bailey both immediately shot down that idea. But, they were nice enough to pull the futon out for them and give them pillows and a blanket. After making sure they knew where the bathroom was, Cody and Bailey headed into their bedroom for their first night in their new bed. And even though they now had essentially a king sized bed, they still didn't even use half of it as they continued to sleep curled up with each other.

The next morning, Cody and Bailey were up by six AM. Even though it was Sunday, they wanted to go ahead and get in the habit of waking up when they would normally during the rest of the semester. So, Bailey went ahead and showered first while Cody got a pot of coffee brewing. And when she was done, Cody took her place as she walked into their kitchenette to pour herself a mug. As she was blowing on it to cool it down a little, she heard a voice behind her.

"Is that for everyone?"

Bailey turned and smiled at Maya. "Yeah, mugs are in the far cabinet as well as sugar packets. Cream is in the refrigerator."

Maya nodded still half asleep and fixed her own cup. And after she got her first jolt of caffeine that morning, she turned to Bailey. "This place is great..." She paused and grinned. "And probably a good idea to make your bedroom the one that doesn't share a common wall with someone else's room..."

Bailey laughed. "Yeah, we thought that would be wise..."

"Well, you two won't have to worry about sneaking around anymore..." She laughed too. "And I won't have to wear earplugs anymore..."

"Hey, don't blame us. Once you told me you knew, we didn't have to worry about you finding out anymore..."

Maya laughed again. "Yeah, I kind of regret that now..."

About that time, Cody came out of the bathroom after finishing his shower. Maya was about to go take her turn since she was already up, but Zack rolled off the futon and ran into the bathroom before she could. So, she just shrugged. "Oh well..."

Bailey smiled. "Don't worry. At this hour on a Sunday morning, there should be plenty of hot water around here."

"True..." Maya paused. "While I'm thinking about it now, I wanted to ask you about your robe. I've noticed it for several weeks and kept meaning to ask you where you got it."

"You like it?"

"Yeah, I love it. I love that color, and I love all the moons and stars all over it."

Bailey smiled. "Cody bought it for me for my birthday..." She paused. "Well, this one and another one, but I only wear it when its just he and I around. But both are this color. He says its the same lavender color that my dress was for the Miss Tipton pageant, and he says he really loves way this color looks on me."

"Well, its gorgeous..." She paused again. "Wait a minute...are you telling me he picked it out all on his own?"

"Yeah. I did hint around that a needed a new robe, but he picked this one out all by himself..."

Maya laughed. "Looks like you have finally taught him well. Maybe you won't have to try on things any more and make excuses why you won't buy them yourself?"

Bailey laughed too. "Well, on things I really do want, I will. Other than that, I trust that Cody knows me well enough to know what I would like."

"Good for you. Now, if I can only get Zack trained that well too..."

"Get Zack trained that well for what?"

Both Maya and Bailey turned to see Cody standing there, and Maya tried to quickly cover. "Oh, trained well enough to keep the bathroom as clean as you did this summer..."

Cody went to fix his own cup of coffee and laughed. "Good luck with that then..."

About that time, Zack walked out of the bathroom with the biggest grin on his face.

"Okay, I can see you guys don't mess around down here at Yale! They went full out in remodeling this place! The toilet seat actually has a heater in it to keep your butt warm!" He laughed. "I gotta get one of those for our suite back at the Tipton!"

Maya, Bailey and Cody just looked at each other and shook their heads. But soon after, Maya and Zack had to get cleaned up and dressed as the four of them were supposed to meet up with Tapeworm and Gertie to grab some breakfast before Zack and Maya had to drive back to Boston. Since the dining hall wouldn't be open for business until the next day, everyone headed over to the Dunkin' Donuts across the street from New Haven Green, about an eight minute walk from their dorm. And as they ate, Zack had the chance to catch up with Tapeworm and share some of the stories from his summer on this ship. Tapeworm could only shake his head at the thought of getting class credit for living on a cruise ship all summer. But soon enough, it was time for Zack and Maya to head back to Boston. Before they did though, Zack did do everyone a favor by following them over their parking garage to drop off their cars before dropping them both off outside of Berkeley North. And then it was time to say their goodbyes.

"Well, Codester...thanks for putting us up last night. I have to admit to you guys have some pretty sweet suites. But, while you all have to start classes on Wednesday, Maya and I are head back to Boston were we plan on doing absolutely nothing until our classes start back next Tuesday..."

Cody smirked. "Oh, I don't know about all of that, Bro. I know of at least one thing you need to do sometime very soon..."

Zack just looked at him. "Yeah? What's that?"

"Talk to London and set up an appointment with Arturo so he can take your measurements. I've already told Dad he needs to get his taken, and Bailey's Mom is going to take Clyde's and send them to us." Cody just gave his brother a look that Zack couldn't quite decipher. "I think you'll find this experience to be quite...interesting."

For some reason, Zack didn't like the way Cody had just said that. "And just what do you mean by that?"

Cody just grinned. "Oh, nothing. Nothing at all..."

Zack was pretty sure there was something his brother wasn't telling him, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what. Of course, seeing the looks on Maya's and Bailey's faces didn't make him feel any better either. But he just chalked it up to them having an inside joke from over the summer, and he just shrugged.

"Oh well, you guys have fun, and don't study too hard." He paused and began laughing. "Oh, who am I kidding? I know those two were doing school work over the summer when they didn't have to. They're probably counting down the hours until their first class begins..."

Tapeworm laughed. "That wouldn't surprise me either. Actually, I more interested in seeing if those two will actually have to cross Grove Street this year to get to one of their classes. Last semester, their schedule was completely ridiculous..."

(AN: Grove Street is the road on Yale's campus that separates Cross Campus where many of the residential colleges like Berkeley are located from the northern part of campus where many of the academic colleges like the colleges of engineering and Science Hill are located.)

Well, Tapeworm was actually going to get his wish that semester. He was almost ecstatic when he learned that Cody and Bailey would indeed have to cross Grove Street for one of their classes, but his jubilation was soon gone when he discovered that the building where that class would be held in was Sheffield Sterling Strathcona Hall. The Sheff, as it was affectionately known, was catercorner across Grove Street from the Commons, only about a five minute walk from Berkeley North. But that wasn't the most disheartening aspect of their schedule that semester to him. When he found out the best part of their schedule, he could only shake his head in disgust again.

"You guys really only have to go to class on Tuesdays and Thursdays?"

Cody and Bailey could only grin at him. It was true. They only had two classes they had to take and then two classes they could take whatever they wanted. And they were really only going to take the latter two classes so they could remain full time students. The first of the courses that were required of them was the one they had already been working on for half of the summer – their Ethics, Politics & Economics senior essay, EP&E 491. The second of their mandatory courses was their senior requirement in Biology – MCDB 485. It would be half of their senior project in Biology, and they would finish it up during the spring semester in MCDB 486. And while the EP&E senior essay would be an actual paper, their biology one would involve them spending 10-12 hours a week in the lab doing research on their chosen topics. Throughout the course of the school year, they would meet once a month with a small group of other Biology seniors to discuss their experiments, and at the end of the spring semester, they would have to submit a write up and do a presentation on their findings.

That left them two classes in whichever they could take whatever they wanted. And like they had discussed at the end of the previous semester, Cody and Bailey had in fact perused the list of Yale gut courses. They each found one class they each really wanted to take as well as two classes both either had heard good things about or whose subject matter sounded fascinating. Since the course Cody thought was interesting was offered in the fall and the one Bailey liked would be in the spring, they decided to pair each one of those up with one of the other classes that interested them. So, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, they had Cody's choice, PSYC 123 – the Psychology, Biology and Politics of Food, from 9:00-10:15. And following it from 10:30-11:45, they would have CPSC 180, Computers and the Law. The latter class was renown around campus for being one of the most fascinating...and easiest classes on campus. It had recently been affectionately dubbed Wikipedia 101. It was a widely held belief around campus that everyone should take the professor teaching the class at least once during their time at Yale. And to make it even more urgent for students on campus, there were rumors circulating around that this was going to be his last year before retiring.

On the Monday morning before classes were to begin on Wednesday, Cody and Bailey had appointments to speak with both of their senior project faculty sponsors. And their EP&E professor, Dr. Ryan, was extremely impressed that they both already had extensive outlines done for their essays. As far as she could see, both were off to a great start and approved them both to begin writing their papers in earnest. Of course, she did want to schedule a meeting with them every couple of weeks so they could discuss the progress they were making. That was fine with Cody and Bailey, and they set up consecutive meetings with her on Friday mornings at 8:00 and 8:15. The figured they could get them both out of the way before breakfast. Actually, having those meetings on Fridays was perfect for them as they had designated Fridays to be their days to actually stay in their room to do their actual writing. With their essays needing to be at approximately 40 pages long, they figured that by averaging 5 pages a week, they should be able to complete and hand in rough drafts before fall break in mid October.

Of course, unbeknownst to Zack, that hadn't been the only project Cody and Bailey had been working on over the summer. To them, it wasn't really that big of a deal, but they figured Zack would have really gotten on their cases if he knew just how much else they had gotten done. Once they had finished their research for their EP&E papers on Saturday afternoon in late July, they had decided to stay in the library and work on some research for their Biology ones. So, the week before they left to head for the boat, they did a little more than just their outlines for their EP&E papers. Cody and Bailey had gotten a little ambitious and completed preliminary research proposals for their Biology projects including lists of some experiments they were both planning to perform to test each of their hypotheses. Their Biology professor, Dr. Cole, was equally impressed with what they had so far. He green lighted the experiments they did have and even gave them some other ideas for others they might want to consider as well. Further, Dr. Cole told them to stop by his office and see him at any time if they needed any additional help.

As they walked over to the bookstore to buy their books for the semester, they decided that since they needed to put in 10-12 hours a week in the lab, they would set aside Mondays and Wednesdays each week to get that done. The only thing that was really bothering them was that the university was going to make them wait until school began back again on Wednesday before allowing them access to the Biology labs. Two days doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but both had wanted to get started as soon as possible as both had a couple of experiments in mind that could take up to 6 months for any definitive results to be seen.

With their Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays all filled up working on their two senior projects, that left them Tuesday and Thursday afternoons to do their homework for their other two classes. And both of those would have some perks that both of them found to be very nice. Both classes would have final projects that allowed them to be done in small groups, and they just grinned at each other knowing they had a chance to atone for the previous times that had worked on group projects together. After their ones in high school involving pretending to be married and searching for Galapagos Gertie, they were grateful for a second chance to show what they could do together. And even better, their computer science class offered them the choice between a final group project or a take home final for the biggest part of their grade. If they chose the group project, they could still take the final for extra credit if they needed to boost their final grades. And even better than that, the final in their Food class would be given in class the last day of the semester and not during the finals period. If everything worked out the way they hoped they hoped it would, they would have nothing to do all of reading and finals weeks except to either get further ahead on their biology projects or leave and have a longer Christmas break.

So, to say they were happy with their schedules would be an colossal understatement. And both knew how fortunate they were to be able to get them. Every undergraduate they knew wanted to get into their two gut classes but weren't going to be able to due huge waiting lists for them both. Spots in the classes were given first to seniors, so Cody and Bailey used that to secure their placements in them. Even with both classes having room for over a hundred students each, at least twice that amount were turned away during the class shopping periods. And for the seniors, if you missed even one of the classes the first two weeks, you were bumped down to the bottom of the list. But that wasn't a problem for Cody and Bailey as they still had their perfect attendance records in tact.

Of course, as was now becoming another tradition for them, Tapeworm was forced to grumble and complain about their schedules. And if possible, he was even more disheartened than he was the semester before.

"You two only go to actual classes two days a week, and one of those classes is in the Sheff and the other one is over in Harkness..." He shook his head in disbelief. "Un-freaking-believable! And here I thought your last semesters were were ridiculous! Oh, and your Computers and the Law class is the biggest joke in our department! We've all been told we can't take it because no self respecting Computer Science major would be caught dead in there..."

Cody laughed. "Sounds like some one is bitter. And remember, we're not computer science majors. But don't worry, pretty much all day on Mondays and Wednesdays, we'll be up on Science Hill. So, we will be getting our exercise in this semester."

That was of no real comfort to Tapeworm, but Gertie couldn't help but rub his arm and laugh. "Look at the bright side, Howie. Cody and Bailey will be able to give us an idea of how much of a pain in the butt these senior projects are going to be. Remember, you and I both have ours next semester..."

He sighed. "That's true I guess..."

Bailey couldn't help herself and smiled. "Well, I'm not sure how much help we'll be. The one we have due by the end of the semester should be pretty easy. All we basically have to do is actually sit down and write up everything we have. Now, I do admit, our other one could end up being a pain..."

Gertie just shrugged. "Well, with how much of a bear my semester is going to be, I'm looking forward to having an easier one next semester. And I know is that I'm saving spots in my schedule for those two classes next semester you two were telling me about. I think they sound awesome!"

Cody sighed. "In theory. And I know I agreed to take it, but I'm getting a bad feeling about the one Bailey has her eye on..."

Tapeworm laughed. "Now its you that sounds a little bitter..." He paused and shook his head again. "I just thought of something else - this semester, neither of you have to worry about the idiotic Labor Day swap since you don't have classes on either Monday or Friday."

"That's true, but on Friday, we'll be up here all day working on our papers. We won't get to see the freshmen freak out about it..."

On Wednesday, 99% of the students at Yale began the Fall 2014 semester, but Cody and Bailey were among the 1% that had no classes scheduled for that day. But they were busy in their own right as they were in the biology lab they were assigned spaces in bright and early that morning to get to work. And by noon, they had got gotten the experiments that would take the most time to complete in motion. Once that was done, they left to grab some lunch before hitting the library to continue doing some research on the suggestions Dr. Cole had given them. And as they ate, Cody just shook his head.

"We may only be in class two days a week, but I have a feeling this semester is going to be busier than anyone realizes..."

Boston

After they returned from New Haven early Sunday afternoon, Zack thought he was looking at a week of him and Maya having absolutely nothing to do, but he didn't quite realize just how wrong he would turn out to be. Maya had to return to work the next day as she had already been off for an entire week. And on that Monday morning, Moseby called and requested Zack to make an appearance at the office. He couldn't quite place why, but Zack was getting a bad feeling about what it was that Moseby wanted. And it turns out he was right. Moseby wanted Zack to come back to work full time the rest of the week so he could fill them in on the S.S. Tipton as well as catch back up on what he needed to for London Inns before school started back the following week. Once they both finally got back to the Tipton that night, Zack could only shake his head.

"Okay, I take it all back! I wish our classes were beginning on Wednesday too instead of next week. The rest of this week is going to suck!"

Maya laughed. "I know, but I guess this is just the final proof we need that our summers are officially over. I guess its coming back to bite me in the butt now when I wished this summer would hurry up and end and for school to start back. But look on the bright side...we'll have next Monday off for Labor Day, and I'm pretty sure there's no chance of you getting seasick back at your old office."

"Babe, I love you, but that really doesn't make me feel any better right now..."

Finally, the holiday weekend arrived, but Zack and Maya didn't much leave the hotel for those three days. After both having to work over forty hours that week, both were looking forward to doing nothing and just resting up for their first day of school on Tuesday. So they spent a lot of time hanging around the hotel's pool even though both already had tans. The only time they did leave the Tipton's confines was to head over to the bookstore to buy their books and supplies. On that Monday evening, they said goodbye to their weekand by just vegging out in front of the television. Well, Zack did. Maya was studying the subway schedule on her laptop making sure she knew when she had to be at the subway stop in the morning. Once she confident she did, Zack looked over at her.

"Did you get it figured out?"

She nodded and sighed. "Yeah, I needed to be down there by 7:12..."

"That sucks..."

She shrugged. "It is what it is..." She smirked at him. "Unlike you, I have a full semester again, so I had to schedule my classes when I could..."

Zack just grinned. "Hey, I make no bones about that fact that I should have a somewhat easy semester than normal. I mean, all I have to do is just pass my classes from here on out as I've already been accepted to BU's grad school, so its not like I have to do as well as I can to impress them now..."

Maya realized it was now time to have the conversation with Zack that she had put off for most of the summer. "So, that's it, huh? BU's your choice and that's all there is to it? You're set on going there?"

He looked at her in confusion. "Why wouldn't I be? Its the school I want to go to, I already know may way around campus, and best of all, you're there too. Yeah, I got into BC and Northeastern, but I only applied to those places as back ups just in case. Besides, BU's School of Management is a pretty good grad school..."

"I'm not saying that its not. Zack, I know MIT already told you no, but there is an even the bigger fish still out there. I wasn't going to bring this up while you were away on the boat, but Zack, there is still a chance for you with Harvard. I know you haven't heard back from them yet, but it is still a possibility. Cody getting accepted to their medical school with a free ride should be all the evidence you need that your family isn't banned from there anymore..."

He smiled. "Babe, as Cody used to always tell me, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I have a school I want to go to and who wants me. So, I could care less what Harvard has to say to me now. In fact, if I never heard back from them, it would be no skin off my back. Trust me, I didn't grow up dreaming of going there like Cody or Bailey did." He laughed. "My dreams of college, if I had actually gone to one, were of the University of Hawaii or Tahiti Tech..."

Maya rolled her eyes. "I can only imagine why. But what if Harvard does end up accepting you?"

Zack just laughed again. "Babe, I seriously doubt that's going to happen. If MIT shot me down, I think its pretty safe to say Harvard will too. I mean, they've already filled their quota of Martins and soon to be Martins. Besides, I'm thankful for what I have right now. I've got a good job, getting a good education, and I have a wonderful girlfriend." He smiled at her. "I can't be too greedy, can I?"

"Well, like Gordon Gekko once said, greed is good..." Maya sighed. "But I do understand what you're saying. As long as you're happy, that's all that matters to me."

He leaned in and kissed her. "I am. I'm very happy." He paused and laughed again. "Well, I'm not happy that summer is almost over and school starts back tomorrow, but other than that..."

Maya just gave him a look. "Poor baby. You got your course credit living on a cruise ship all summer and haven't seen the inside of a classroom since May. I saw one just a couple of weeks ago. So, no sympathy for you here..."

But neither one could really complain about their upcoming fall schedules. Like Zack said, he would only have fourteen hours, and they would spread out over four classes. Entering his senior year, He was only two classes shy of completing his business management minor, and the next course in line for him to take was SMG OB 221, The Dynamics of Leading Organizations. The lecture session of that class would be held on Wednesday afternoons from 2:00-4:00 with a discussion section/laboratory on Friday mornings from 9:00-12:00. That left him with three classes to choose that would go towards completing his hospitality administration requirements. He had one class he was required to take, and that was SHA HF 460, Hospitality Strategic Marketing. It would meet on Tuesday afternoons from 2:00-5:00. His final two classes would be hospitality electives which meant he got to choose whatever he wanted. The first one he chose was SHA HF 275, Convention and Event Management on Thursday afternoons from 2:00-5:00. Zack figured that would be a class that could come in handy some day if London Inns ever tried to get into the convention business. But the class he thought could really be useful for London Inns in the short term was SHA HF 353, Introduction to New Hotel Development. Not only would it be potentially beneficial, it was only a two credit course that met on Monday afternoons from 3:00-5:00.

That left him Monday through Thursday mornings to work. And since Maya was going to have 8:00 classes once again, he made a show of camaraderie with her by choosing to work 8:00-12:00 those days to get in sixteen hours a week.

And Maya did indeed have 8:00 classes everyday but Friday. But after having commuted from the Tipton to campus all summer, she was well aware of how long it would take her to get from door to door. With that knowledge tucked away in the back of her mind, she wasn't worried about being late for her early classes. Her first 8:00 AM class was SAR HP 531, Clinical Medicine I on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 8:00-10:00, and it had a lab section on Tuesday afternoons from 2:00-4:00. Her other early class was SAR PT 520, Functional Anatomy, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00-10:00 with its accompanying lab section on Thursday afternoons from 2:00-4:00. Also on Mondays and Wednesdays, she would have SAR PT 515, Physical Therapy Examination, from 10:30-12:30. And also on Tuesdays and Tuesdays, she would have SAR HP 561, Evidence Based Practice from 10:30-12:30. That just left Fridays where she had SAR AT 404, Clinical Athletic Training I from 9:00-11:00 with a discussion section immediately following it in the same classroom from 11:00-12:00.

That schedule would allow her and Zack to have lunch together everyday on campus. And it allowed her to continue to work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the afternoons. While she would be doing more aquatic therapy work on Mondays and Wednesdays, there was such a high demand enough from parents for her to continue to teach swim lessons that she would do those on Friday afternoons. And according to her boss, her sections were the first ones to fill up.

On their first day of classes on Tuesday, Zack and Maya met up for lunch on campus before their afternoon classes. And when they got there, Zack smiled at her.

"Have you seen the school newspaper yet this morning?"

She shook her head. "No, I haven't had a chance to look at it yet. Why?"

He handed her a copy of it, and she happened to see the headline. 'BU Hockey Star's Career is Over!'. Seeing that, she quickly scanned the article before shaking her head. And Zack just laughed.

"I guess they'll print anything, huh? He didn't re-injure himself trying to come back to soon from his first injury. He got injured when he tried to mess with one Maya Bennett!"

Maya just looked up at him and laughed. "I guess so. Too bad no one else will know what really happened though..."

New Haven

About that same time in New Haven, Cody and Bailey were returning back to Berkeley North after their computer science class over in the Sheff. The plan was to head up to their room to drop off their backpacks before going down to the dining hall to grab some lunch. As they entered lobby of their dorm, they were discussing the homework assignments that they had been assigned in both of their classes that morning when Master Chun ran over to them and stopped them.

"This must be my lucky day! I needed to see you two, and you just happened to be walking by!"

"Everything okay, Master Chun?" Cody laughed. "I mean, the last time you stopped us like this, you dropped the bomb on us about the new and improved Berkeley College. And if we may say, its even better than we could have ever imagined."

He smiled. "Nothing this major this time. But first, how are you two enjoying your new room. Everything going okay with you two living together so far?"

Bailey smiled. "We absolutely love it, and no problems whatsoever living with Cody..." She paused and laughed. "Well, he still snores, but that's something I've gotten used to by now. We can only hope we have some place as nice to live next year..."

Master Chun just gave them a look before grinning. "You mean when you're up in Boston at Harvard Medical School?"

Both just looked at him in surprise. "How did you know that?"

He laughed. "Oh, I have a friend up in their admissions office. He called me towards the end of last semester to get my opinion of the two of you. Naturally, I gave you both a glowing review. But, I'm guessing I did too good of a job because he called me back about a month or so ago to rub it in that Harvard was stealing away two of Yale's finest. So, while the Yale medical school wouldn't be too happy about what I did, I wish you both a sincere congratulations."

Cody sighed. "We appreciate that, but we thought if that information got out around here, well...you know.."

"Don't worry about it. As much as I despise Harvard, they do have the top ranked medical school in the country. So, I can't blame you both for going for the best...especially when they're going to pay you." He paused and teased them. "Now, I will keep this information to myself if you two will do me a huge favor..."

"What's that?"

Master Chun smiled. "Well, you two have done extremely well in a lot of the science courses around here. Can I put you two down on my list of potential tutors if other students are having trouble in those classes?"

Bailey smiled again. "Sure, we'd be happy to. We both did tutoring in high school, and over this summer, we helped Cody's twin brother's girlfriend with her physics class at BU. So, it would be nothing new for us..."

"Thank you both. In particular, I've already had several students complain to me about their organic chemisty classes after only a couple of classes. I know you two both aced that class, so if you two could help out with that, I'd be most appreciative."

Cody laughed. "We'll try our best, but after the MCAT, we might have done a huge brain flush on some things."

Master Chun just shook his head. "I seriously doubt that. But since I know you both are working on dual senior projects this semester, I'll try not to send too many your way if I can help it. But if I have to, when would fit your schedules the best?"

They turned to each other to think that over. "I guess we'd probably say Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Mondays and Wednesdays, we'll be on Science Hill or in the library all day. And Fridays are our days to write our EP&E papers. I guess we'd prefer we not be interrupted on Fridays so we can get those done as soon as possible."

"Works for me." He grinned. "But, I will make sure they know you two won't be available on Thursday afternoons after five o'clock. While we here at Berkeley may not win many intramural competitions, I'm not about to do anything to jeopardize us winning our fourth straight ping pong crown. Those matches have already been scheduled for Thursday afternoons at six, and I want you two to be free to continue your dominance over the other residential collages again. I really think we have a great chance of being the first college ever to be back to back to back to back champions in anything." He paused and sighed. "Though, I'm really dreading next year when we won't have you two anymore..."

Bailey laughed. "Well, we'll do our best. Cody and I did do some practicing over the summer, so we should be ready."

Cody shook his head. "What my beautiful fiancee means to say is we spent the summer with her continuing to kill me when we played one on one. So, she should be ready. My job is to just not do anything to screw up and to get out of her way..."

Boston

That Friday afternoon, Zack and Maya met up for lunch once again. But Fridays were the days Zack loved best. Ordinarily, after they had lunch, they both still had either work or class to go to that afternoon. But on Fridays, he was done for the day after 12:30. And he knew he was going to love to tease her about that fact for the rest of the semester. That afternoon, he mentioned in passing that he might head home and play some video games online with Woody and Marcus. But that day, Maya had a good feeling that his plans were about to change.

"So, you think you're heading back to the suite to play video games with Woody and Marcus, huh?"

He laughed. "Yeah, I do. I'm done for the day, Babe. I don't have any homework I have to do, so I have nothing else to do..."

But Maya had a look on her face like that of the cat who ate the canary. "Actually, you do, Zack. I ran into London this morning while I was waiting on you in the lobby. She said Arturo, the guy who is designing Bailey's wedding gown and all the stuff for the guys, is stopping by her penthouse this afternoon about three o'clock. I was supposed to tell you to stop by there then to get your measurements taken."

He shrugged. "Well, I did tell the Codester I would. How long do you think it will take?"

Maya just shrugged herself. "Not long...I was there when Cody got his taken, and I think Arturo was done with him in less than ten or fifteen minutes..." She gave him a mischievous smile. "So, it shouldn't taken you too long, and then you can get back to your video games..."

Zack just gave her a look. "Okay, first Cody and now you. I keep getting the feeling that there is something about this that you all aren't telling me. It almost feels like you all are setting me up for something, but I have no idea what it could be..."

She gave him her best hurt look. "Now, what I do something like that to the man I love?"

He paused. "Yeah, I think you would if you knew it was going to be funny. Now, tell me. What are you all being so cryptic about."

Maya just shook her head. "Nope. Not going to do it."

He leaned over and kissed her. "Tell me now?"

She laughed. "Sorry, Babe...unfortunately, that little trick doesn't work both ways."

Zack sighed. "Come on! I don't see what the big deal is. I'm going to be measured for a tuxedo. Its not like I haven't been measured for one before."

"Actually, you won't be wearing one this time as there will be no tuxedos for this wedding. From what I remember, you'll be wearing a sand colored suit with an ocean bluish green or greenish blue shirt. And I know how much you hate ties, so you'll be happy to know you won't have to wear one of those either."

"Well, that's good news I guess."

"And you won't need shoes either. Everyone will be barefoot for it."

"That doesn't sound so bad either..." He paused. "But London might want to have a pedicurist on site before hand just to be sure."

Maya laughed. "She's already way ahead of you on that, and she's planning on having a team of them there. And everyone is getting a pair of flip flops to wear to the reception as a thank you from Cody and Bailey for coming to their wedding."

Zack shrugged. "Well, it doesn't sound as fancy, but I still don't see what the big deal is..."

She just smiled at him again. "Who said there was one?"

Zack still wasn't happy as he was pretty sure there was something he wasn't been told, but by the time Maya left to head for work, he still hadn't found out anything. Of course, as he began walking towards the subway station, he missed Maya watching him with the biggest grin on her face.

After working that afternoon, Maya finally returned back to the Tipton at close to 6:30 that evening. And when she opened the door to their suite, she was surprised to see Zack sitting on the couch with his arms crossed just glaring at her.

The kind of caught her off guard. "Hey, Babe..."

Zack just kept glaring at her. "Don't 'Hey, Babe' me! You knew what was about to happen and didn't tell me!'

Once she remembered how he had spent his afternoon, she began laughing. "I see you enjoyed Arturo taking your measurements as much as Cody did..."

"Enjoyed it? I've never been more uncomfortable before in my whole life! I was violated!"

"Oh, settle down. I saw how uncomfortable he made Cody, so I asked him to mess with you too." She grinned. "And don't forget, you did say that we would still pull some pranks to prove that we hadn't lost our touch..." Maya laughed again. "Well, I just did, but I chose you to be the one I pulled it on..."

New Haven

On that same Friday afternoon, Bailey and Gertie were hanging around the new Berkeley game room while Cody and Tapeworm got in their afternoon workout. And while the explored all of the new additions, they stopped to play a game of darts together. While they were throwing, they were challenged to a game by two of the college's new freshmen. But quickly, they realized the two guys were more interested in flirting with two older college women than really playing a game. So, rolling her eyes, Bailey showed them her engagement ring and told them she was getting married the next summer. When they turned their attention to Gertie, she held up her hand too to show them a ring as well. Realizing they were barking up the wrong trees, the two guys immediately left to move on to other girls. But Bailey turned to Gertie and smiled.

"What is that on your finger?"

Gertie smiled back. "Howie bought me a promise ring for my birthday..."

Bailey pulled her in for a hug. "Congratulations!" She pulled back and teased her. "Well, I guess we all know what the next step is, don't we?"

Gertie laughed. "Yeah, but this is good enough for me right now..." She paused. "Though, my thinking that it would keep the wolves at bay seems to have been misguided..."

"Don't worry about it. Just show them the ring, and most will back off. And if that doesn't work, we still have the mace on our key chains. And if that doesn't work, a swift knee to their groins should do the trick..."

Gertie laughed again. "True..." She shook her head. "Is it just me though, or do this years freshmen look like babies. Did we look that young our freshmen years?"

Bailey shrugged. "Probably..." She paused. "Though, it does blow my mind that next year, that will be my youngest sister, Amy. I remember when she was born, and she'll start college next fall..."

"I know what you mean. My little brother is a freshman at Penn this year. I still have trouble believing he's already in college. Speaking of your sister and Ivy League schools, has she chose a school yet?"

Bailey shook her head. "Not yet. I think she is basking in them fighting over her right now. I don't think she's in any hurry to make a decision yet."

After they finished their game, they began walking around again and noticed the two would be lotharios were now talking to two girls who seemed enthralled by what they were saying and constantly giggled.

"Please tell me we we didn't act that stupid when we were freshmen..."

Gertie shook her head. "I sure hope not. Seeing that makes me even more grateful that we already have the guys we want to spend the rest of our lives with. And I'm grateful that neither Howie or Cody would ever act like those too..."

"You and me both. All I know is I have no desire to deal with any more jerks this year..."

To be Continued...

AN: I know I promised the return of old characters in Season 4. So far, we've seen the return of Kirby. In the new few chapters, we'll see the return of two more - one beloved and the other not so much.