Episode 10

"Birthday Surprises"

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

As the next several weeks passed by, classes were officially back in the full swing of things. Everyone on campus had either settled back into their old, usual routines or established new ones they hoped would yield better results. But it wasn't like they really had much of a choice. At Yale, there was no adjustment period where everyone was able to ease themselves back into the flow of being back in school. Rather, every student on campus was expected to be at the top of their games as soon as classes began again. And they had to because there would be no slowing down until reading week with the exceptions of the three day fall break and week long Thanksgiving break. And even then, most students on campus had to use their breaks catching up on school work they had fallen behind on. While most students had previous years to prepare themselves for this, the poor freshmen and transfer students often found themselves awestruck and susceptible to freak outs. And they of all people looked forward to the reprises that the weekends brought. Not that others didn't, but the newer students latched on them like a life preserver in a storm.

Even though they were now finally seniors, Bailey, Cody, Tapeworm and Gertie quickly adjusted back to their old work habits and seamlessly settled back into their usual routines. By the Friday of the third week of September, this was especially true of Cody and Bailey. By then, they had a good number of experiments in progress for their Biology projects, and they had already made good progress in writing their EP&E papers. On that afternoon about four o'clock, Cody and Bailey both found stopping points in their papers and wrapped up their writing for the day. After saving their work (naturally, to be on the safe side, to several different folders, a couple of flash drives and as attachments to emails sent to themselves and each other), they smiled at each other as they realized it was time for their Friday afternoon chores. But before they could begin them, they heard a knock at the door to their room. Cody answered it, and they both found Master Chun standing there smiling at them.

Bailey smiled back at him. "Well, well...Master Chun. To what do we owe the honor of a personal visit from you this afternoon?"

He stepped inside their suite and closed the door behind him. "Actually, I'm just needed to stop by for a few seconds. Before classes started, you two volunteered to be tutors for Berkeley residents in organic chemistry if I needed them. So far this semester, I haven't had need to call in that favor yet, but circumstance are forcing me to now. I've had a couple more students stop by my office today asking for help, and all of my other tutors have full schedules. I'm in a bind here, and I was hoping you two were still willing to help out..."

Cody nodded. "Of course. I mean, as long as they don't try to monopolize what free time we do have, we'd be happy too."

"You two don't have any idea how much I appreciate this. I'll give them calls and have them come meet you guys up here. I'll leave it to you all to arrange times that will work for everyone. And if they don't end up showing up, just let me know. I know you guys are busy enough without wasting any more of your time." Master Chun paused and grinned "Just remember not to schedule anything for Thursdays at six though. You two will be helping out your college on the ping pong tables of battle then..."

Bailey laughed. "We'll make sure we don't."

"Good. Again, thank you both for helping out with this..." He paused again before laughing. "I would say this would look good on your medical school applications, but I think we all know that isn't necessary any more." He teased them. "And even though you have sold your souls to the evil empire, I think this shows there may still be hope for you two after all..."

She kept laughing. "Thanks...I think. Anyways, we'll always be loyal to Yale, so anyway way can help it out, we will. Just make sure you tell them to come up before seven thirty tonight, and we'll work something out. Any time after that, and we won't be here as Cody and I are heading out for a date night tonight."

"I'll make sure to tell them that. I should go call them right now then, so I'll see you two later." He paused and grinned again. "And Cody? Quit making the rest of us guys around here look bad. I know you're not actually married yet, but if my wife found out you two were still going out on date nights, I'd never hear the end of it..."

With that, Master Chun headed out, and Cody and Bailey were able to turn their focus back to doing their regularly scheduled Friday afternoon housekeeping tasks. While Cody busied himself with gathering up their trash and taking it to the trash shoot, cleaning their kitchenette area, and then beginning to clean their bathroom, Bailey dusted, vacuumed and straightened up their suite before beginning to sort their laundry so they could do it the next morning. And as both were in the middle of their final tasks, they heard another knock at their door. Both looked over at each other and shrugged before Bailey headed over to open it. Well, she kind of had to as Cody still had on his yellow latex cleaning gloves. And when Bailey did open it, she saw the tiniest woman she had ever seen standing next to a mountain of a man.

Seeing the odd couple in front of her, she was taken aback. "Can I help you?"

The petite girl began speaking very rapidly in an extremely high pitched voice. "I sure hope so! My name is Trixie, and Master Chun told me I might be able to find an organic chemistry tutor here. I'm looking for Cody Martin..."

Cody walked over next to Bailey. "I'm Cody Martin." He paused as seeing the hulk standing next to her. "Are you both in need tutoring?"

Trixie began giggling before once again speaking as fast as she could. "Oh, no, I'm just the one who needs a tutor. This is my boyfriend, Ox. Once he heard that my potential tutor was another guy, he wanted to come with me to meet you himself..." Cody looked up at the big man who was just glaring at him as Trixie continued. "He's the starting offensive tackle on Yale's football team, and scouts think he might be able to play in the NFL some day." She giggled again. "I think he wanted to make sure you knew who he was in case you got any bright ideas..."

Cody could only nod. "I see..." He gestured to Bailey. "Well, this is my FIANCEE, Bailey. And as for tutoring, I have available Tuesdays and Thursdays in the early afternoons. Do those days and times work for you?"

She smiled. "Those will work perfectly! Next Tuesday then at say two o'clock?"

"Yeah, that should work just fine..."

Ox finally spoke up as he continued to glare at Cody. "If you don't mind, I would rather you two use one of the study rooms down in the basement of the library. I have my team tutoring sessions down there at the same time, and I would prefer to be able to keep an eye on you..."

Cody held up his hands. "Consider it done!"

Trixie grinned at him again. "Good! I'll see you on Tuesday! Come on, Oxie...lets go!"

And with that, Trixie seemed to skip away as Ox lumbered behind her. After he closed the door, Cody just shook his head wondering what he just got himself into when Bailey busted out laughing.

"Looks like you're going to have fun with that, Sweetie..."

He sighed. "It should definitely be interesting..." He paused. "Bails, what is it with guys named after very large animals and their seeming disliking of me? I've never met that Ox guy before, and he was looking at me like I just insulted his mother before kicking his dog..."

She kept laughing. "I don't know, Cody."

"Maybe I should get a nickname like that myself..."

Bailey leaned in and kissed his cheek. "You already do. You're my Cody Bear..."

Cody smiled. "That's true...And bears are a lot more fearsome and deadly than either oxen or moose."

She wrapper her arms around his waist. "And a lot more cuddly." But, she couldn't help herself and started laughing again. "Okay, enough about that guy, what about her? I mean, she's tiny enough that if you add some wings to her, you could call her Tinkerbell. And if not that, it wouldn't surprise me to see her in the gymnastics competition at the next summer Olympics..."

He couldn't help but to laugh too. "Yeah, I could definitely see that. Those two do make quite the odd couple. Instead of Beauty and the Beast, more like Munchkin and the Mountain..."

"Or the Elf and the Elephant. And was it just me, or did she sort of remind you of someone else we know?"

Cody grinned. "Are you referring to the fact that if I had closed my eyes, I could have swore I was talking to Addison after she had followed up one of her sugar binges by inhaling all of the helium out of a balloon?"

"Yes! That's exactly what she reminded me of!"

But they didn't have time to dilly dally and keep making jokes as they needed to finish their chores. And a half hour later, they were both done and had all of their clothes sorted and a sparkling clean bathroom to boot. Of course, that left Cody with a real dilemma...well, one for him anyways.

"Bails, after cleaning the bathroom, I'm so grimy I need another shower. But if I take a shower, the bathroom won't be perfectly clean any more..."

She laughed. "Well, isn't it about time for you and Tapeworm to head down to the gym again? Why don't you wait to shower again until you get back from doing that..." She grinned. "And then we can use the tub together before we head out for our date night..."

He couldn't help but smile at her idea. "Well, when you put it like that, I don't mind getting it a little bit dirty..." He was about to pull her into his arms and kiss her when he stopped himself. "I should probably take these gloves off first..."

Bailey grinned. "No, keep them on..."

Cody just gave her a look. "You sure? I did just get finished scrubbing our toilet while wearing them..."

She paused before nodded. "Yeah, lose 'em..."

He did and was about to finally pull her in close when they were interrupted by another knock at their door. Both could only sigh at the disturbance, but they found Gertie and Tapeworm standing there. So, Cody quickly went to change into his workout clothes before the guys headed to the gym downstairs. And once they were gone, the ladies just crashed back onto the futon to take it easy. Gertie sighed and turned to Bailey.

"Is it fall break yet?"

Bailey smiled at her. "In need of a few days off already?"

"Oh yeah. I knew this semester was going to be a rough one, but I'm just starting to discover just how bad its going to be. I thought setting it up to have an easier final semester would be worth the hell of this semester, but I'm starting to second guess that. I have three really killer classes that could end up being my demise, so I'm glad I've already been accepted to grad school. If I can just make it all the way through to winter break, it will be another Christmas miracle..."

Bailey laughed. "Well, just keep thinking of how great next semester will be, and you'll get through this one. The finish line is now in sight for all of us, so it isn't the time to get senioritis..."

"I know. Of course, seeing the guys head down to work out makes me feel even worse. I feel like I should be doing something too. I know they say exercise is a good stress reliever, so maybe they have the right idea? I'd love to have something to make these next three months easier if it all possible..."

Bailey paused to think. "Well, they are offering some free classes downstairs in the new fitness studio. From the sign I saw earlier, I think they have Pilates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings and a self defense class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Pilates will help you calm down, and the self defense will help you let out the stress you do have. Besides, Maya's been taking those kind of classes for over a year now, and she says they are very therapeutic as well as teaching her how to kick some serious butt."

Gertie nodded. "That does sound like a good idea..." She paused. "Would you do them with me?"

"Of course I will. And I bet we could talk the guys into doing their workouts while we're in those classes. It actually sounds like fun."

Gertie smiled. "You're the best, Bailey..." She paused again. "We'll start next week. But right now, I just want to sit here and do nothing until the guys get back. I'm exhausted..."

"Yeah, I know the feeling. Spending all day doing nothing but sitting and writing a paper can wear you out without you even realizing it."

"How are yours and Cody's papers coming along anyways?"

Bailey grinned. "Really well actually. Cody and I are both well ahead of the schedules we set for ourselves. I'm on page 28 of mine, and he's finishing up his 27th page. We should definitely have finished rough drafts ready to turn in for review just after fall break."

Gertie shook her head and sighed. "And then you guys will have Fridays off to do nothing. That would be so nice..."

"Hardly, once we turn those in, then we'll be spending three days a week up on Science Hill. We keep coming up with other experiments we want to include as part of our project, but at some point, we're going to have to cut ourselves off. On Monday, we even headed back up there after dinner and didn't get home until almost midnight."

"Well, something tells me you guys won't be getting much work done next Tuesday. That is Cody's birthday I believe..."

Bailey nodded. "Yeah, but he doesn't want to make a big deal about it since its in the middle of the week."

Gertie laughed. "But its his 21st birthday! He's the last one of us to hit that milestone, and you only turn 21 once..."

Bailey shrugged. "Well, yeah, but neither he or I have any inclination to drink. I mean...we discovered we like champagne over the summer, but we have no real desire to try much of anything else..."

"So, are you two going to do anything at all to celebrate it?"

"Of course we are. We're going out to dinner that night and maybe go see a movie afterwards. You know celebrate it but keep it low key."

Gertie grinned. "What if I had another suggestion for that evening...one I think you both would enjoy?"

Bailey just looked at her. "I'm listening..."

Gertie told her about what she and Tapeworm had discovered the other night, and Bailey could only laugh. "I admit - I do like the sound of that. It could be a lot of fun."

"Especially with the level of competition we have around here at Yale."

"Tell you what. How about we meet you two there about nine o'clock that night? Would you two mind getting there early and saving us a table?"

"Consider it done..." Gertie grinned before she paused and sighed. "Speaking of having a night out to celebrate, am I the only one getting a little worried about what those have in mind for our Halloween costumes this year?"

Bailey sighed too. "No, you're not. In fact, every time I bring up the subject to Cody, he just gets this big grin on his face before letting out an evil little laugh. I've moved past worried to flat out scared about what he has planned..."

"Same here. The other day, Howie asked me if my hair was long enough to curl up into buns on the sides. I have a bad feeling I know what he's thinking..."

Bailey shook her head. "What is it with guys and Princess Leia? I think Cody had the same idea two years ago..." Both looked at each other, rolled their eyes and began laughing. "The gold bikini..."

"Well, if that's what Howie has in mind, he can just forget about it! No thank you! No way I would go to that party dressed like that!"

"I don't blame you one bit. I wouldn't go out in public dressed like that either. In fact..." But before Bailey could finish her thought, they were interrupted by yet another knock at the door. "Now who could that be? Seems like our room has been the place to come to this afternoon..."

Bailey got up to answer it and found some guy she had never seen before standing there. "Can I help you?"

"Ummm...yeah. I was looking for Bailey Pickett. Would that happen to be you?"

She paused. "It could be. Who's asking?"

"I'm Th...ummm...Robert, but most people call me Rob..." He paused waiting for Bailey to say something. But when she didn't, he just continued. "Anyways, Master Chun told me you were willing to tutor other people here in Berkeley in organic chemistry. That class is starting to kick my butt, and I really could use all the help I can get. So, would you tutor me?"

Bailey just nodded. "Yeah, I did tell Master Chun I would help out. Alright, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are what I have to offer. That's the only time I really have to help out without it encroaching on my own studies."

He nodded. "That works just fine for me. Next Tuesday afternoon then?"

Bailey paused as she remembered something and shook her head. "Actually, I can't that day as I have to go pick up a special birthday present that afternoon. But I can on Thursday. Does two o'clock work for you?

He smiled. "That's perfect. Should I just meet you here then?"

Since Cody was going to be in one of the study rooms in the library, Bailey figured that would be a good place too. "Nah, I'll reserve one of the study rooms down in the basement of the library. I see you down there on Thursday."

Rob just nodded, and headed off. After Bailey closed the door, Gertie looked up at her.

"What was that all about?"

"Oh, Cody and I told Master Chun we'd help out and tutor people for organic chem..." She paused and laughed. "You should have seen the girl Cody's tutoring. You remember my friend Addison from last spring break?"

"The one who would talk real fast if she had too much sugar?"

Bailey nodded. "That's her. Picture her about a half foot shorter with a really high pitched voice..."

"Whoa..." Gertie shrugged. "Well, maybe that guy there will remind you and Cody of someone too?"

"Well, he doesn't remind me of anyone I know. And you'd have to ask Cody if he looked familiar to him..."

Boston

On the Tuesday of the following week, Maya's alarm went off a little after six that morning, and she dragged herself out of bed. As she shuffled off to the shower, Maya had to remind herself that she only had about an hour before she had to be at the subway stop and not to just stand under the hot water no matter how good it felt. So, she quickly showered, threw on some clothes and pulled her hair back into a pony tail so she wouldn't have to worry about styling it that morning. After checking herself out in the mirror and being satisfied with what she saw, Maya headed out to the kitchen to fix herself a bowl of cereal. Unfortunately, she was still half asleep and her mind was still in the process of clearing out the cobwebs. But when she heard the unmistakable sound of the shower turning on again, she snapped back to reality. Getting up to investigate, she saw a light coming from underneath the bathroom door and shrugged her shoulders. Maya did find it a little strange that Zack was up already especially on that day of all days. But, she figured she'd find out why soon enough and returned to her bowl of Special K. About twenty minutes later, she was washing out her bowl and putting it in the dishwasher when Zack walked out of their bedroom wearing a pair of khakis, a white undershirt and a button up shirt that was neither buttoned up or tucked in. Maya smiled, walked over to him and gave him a kiss.

"Good morning and happy Birthday!"

He yawned before smiling back at her. "Thanks, Babe. Thanks to that kiss, its starting out as a happy one."

"Glad I could help then..."

"Guess I'll have to return the favor on your birthday on Friday."

She grinned at him. "Works for me. Just seems kind of weird that we're all finally going to be 21 by the end of this week..."

Zack was about to say something when they both heard a knock at their door of their suite. Both of them looked at each other in surprise. "Who could be knocking on our door at..." He checked the clock on the oven. "...6:55 in the morning?" He walked over to answer the door and found his mother standing there. And immediately, Carey pulled him into a tight hug.

"My baby boy is 21!"

He sighed and just let her hug him. "Mom..."

She pulled back and smiled. "Well, excuse me for wanting to stop by and wish you a happy birthday..."

"I really do appreciate it, but its still really early..."

Carey shrugged and kept smiling. "You're lucky I wasn't here about a half hour ago. I'll never forget that you were born at 6:30 in the morning. But I was delayed because I just got off the phone with Cody wishing him a happy birthday too..." She laughed. "Trust me. I've learned my lesson to always call him first because I'll know he'll actually answer. You, on the other hand, I knew would actually be here and unable to hang up on me if I came over here. Besides, I wanted to catch Cody before he and Bailey began their day today. I was a little surprised they they were already up and about to head down to breakfast..."

Zack rolled his eyes. "Well, what do you expect? Cody's always gotten up way earlier than I have. He was the one who was dragging me out of bed when we were kids. Besides, with all that time he's spent on the farm, I'm sure he's used to waking up at the crack of dawn..."

She laughed again. "Oh, I'm sure he is. Though, I am kind of surprised I didn't actually have to drag you out of bed this morning. Anyways, I was wondering if you two already had any plans for tonight yet. If not, I'd like to take you both out to dinner to celebrate."

Zack looked over at Maya who just nodded back at him. "I guess that should work, Mom. Since we both have to be up early again tomorrow, we weren't going to do anything really big tonight anyways. Instead, we're going to wait until we can celebrate both of our birthdays on Friday night."

Carey couldn't help but to sigh. "Speaking of which, I know you will both be 21 then, but its my responsibility as a parent to remind you both to be responsible with alcohol. I know the tradition is to go a little crazy on your 21st birthday, but I don't want you two to go overboard..."

He sighed. "We won't, Mom. We know better than that."

She paused and gave him a look. "Have you had alcohol before, Zack?"

Zack looked down to button his shirt so he could avoid making eye contact with his mother. "Well, we all did have a champagne toast on the boat. But, we were all celebrating the end of very busy and successful summers for all of us. But that's it. And to be fair, the drinking age is 18 in Mexico, so we weren't doing anything illegal..."

"Well, I guess all things considered, I can't be upset about that. I just want you both to be careful and responsible on Friday night. If you are planning on drinking again, please take a cab or the subway so that you won't be drinking and driving. Or if you don't want to do that, call me, and I'll come and pick you up myself. Will you two promise me that?"

Maya spoke up. "We promise, Ms. Martin. We'll be very responsible that night."

"Thank you. And I want you to remember that you two have both worked way too hard on your studies just to throw them away because of a night of binge drinking..."

Zack sighed again. "We won't, Mom, I promise. In case you haven't noticed, we've both grown up a lot in recent years. We know better than that."

"I sure hope so..."

Maya checked the clock on the oven again and grabbed her backpack. "I hate to run, but I really need to get going if I'm going to catch my train and make it to my first class on time." She walked over and kissed Zack's cheek goodbye. "Happy Birthday again, Babe. I'll see you later on for lunch."

Zack grabbed his backpack too. "Hold on, and I'll walk out with you."

Carey just looked at him surprised. "You're leaving the suite a little after seven AM when you don't have to be at work until 8:00? Is there something going on here that I missing?"

Zack just grinned. "Well, Mom, if I leave now, I'll have just enough time to stop at the Denny's down the street and get my free birthday grand slam breakfast!"

Carey just shook her head and laughed. "You may be 21 now and growing up on me, but somethings will never change..."

New Haven

That same evening, Cody and Bailey had headed out to the Union League Cafe, their favorite restaurant near campus, so they could celebrate his birthday in style. And, like they had on the boat the previous month, they did have a champagne toast to satisfy the tradition of at least having one drink on a person's 21st. That was going to be their limit as they had a full day of work in the lab waiting on them the next day. After finishing a delicious dinner, they began strolling down Chapel Street before turning down Temple Street. And when they got to the corner of Temple and Crown, Bailey stopped them.

"Ummm...Bails...the movie theater is on the next block down."

She smiled at him. "I know, but we're not going to see a movie tonight." She nodded at the building in front of them. "This is where we're going."

He looked up, read the sign above the door and was instantly confused. "Sweetie...Why are we going to the Black Bear Saloon?"

"Because Gertie, Tapeworm and I thought you might enjoy this place."

He just looked at her with confusion written all over his face. "You thought I would enjoy coming to a bar? Sweetie, I know I'm 21 now and all, but I thought we said we were limiting ourselves to just the one glass of champagne tonight. And I definitely have no desire to pull a Zack tonight..."

Bailey couldn't help but to laugh. "And none of us have any aspirations for you to do that. Cody, we're here because on Tuesdays, they have trivia nights. Groups of four can compete together versus other teams to try to win cash prizes. We all thought you might find that to be fun..."

"Trivia nights?" That caught Cody's attention, and he eyes lit up. "Well, I guess that could be fun. I mean...we haven't gotten to compete in a battle of brains against anyone since the mathlympics, and that was the summer before we started college. And even then, there wasn't the chance for us to win any money for it." He smiled at her. "You all we're right. This does sound like a lot of fun. But, no trying to ply me with any more drinks tonight. We need to have our minds sharp and clear if we have any expectations of winning!"

She laughed again. "I couldn't agree more, Dear..." She winked at him. "Besides, we need to be at the top of our games for more than just this..."

"What else are you talking about?"

Bailey leaned in and kissed him. "You'll find out later..."

So, they headed inside and met up with Gertie and Tapeworm who already had a table waiting for them. And there timing couldn't have been more perfect as the trivia competition was set to begin in five minutes. When their waitress brought them over a small dry erase board and marker, they were officially ready to play. And with relative ease, they were one of the three teams to make the finals of the first game, and by making the finals, they guaranteed themselves of making at least some money that night. After they successfully won the first game and waited for the second one to begin, Tapeworm just grinned as a small glass with a reddish liquid was placed in front of Cody.

"Happy 21st birthday, Man. In honor of our Boston roots, I had to buy you a Cape Codder tonight. And before you ask, its cranberry juice and vodka. Its your rite of passage to have at least one drink with your friends today..."

Cody sighed. "Well, I guess one more won't hurt me..." He looked down at the glass in front of him. "And, they do say cranberry juice is supposed to be very good for one's urinary tract." He picked up the glass and saluted everyone at the table. "Cheers!"

But he made it clear that that was going to be his limit for the night. Everyone else agreed because, as Cody had said, if they were planning on winning the big cash prize at the end of the night, they all needed to be able to think clearly. And he was right. By the time they all called it a night and left the saloon, they were all walking out with almost an extra three hundred dollars a piece in their pockets. And as they began walking back to their dorm, Cody had to grin.

"Thanks, Guys. That actually was a lot of fun. I glad you guys suggested it."

Gertie laughed. "You're welcome. And while we had fun too, the other teams didn't seem too happy. But the owner of the saloon said if we came back next week to defend our crowns that any drinks would be on him..."

Tapeworm grinned as he just kept counting his new found wealth. "Hey, if it keeps making me money to come back here, I have no qualms about us making this a weekly tradition..."

Once they got back to their room, Cody was about ready to call it a night when Bailey just smiled at him.

"Are you sure about that? I have one more present for you to open up..."

He looked at her. "You do?"

"Uh huh..." She went to their other closet to retrieve the gift she had hidden in there. "Now, this isn't like the other ones I got you because while its for you its not specifically for you..."

Cody was confused - until he opened the gift. But when he pulled out something made of silk, satin and lace from the box and saw Bailey winking at him, he couldn't help but to laugh. "You know...sleep is highly overrated!"

Unfortunately, the next day brought with it the return to the real world. And like Bailey had said, they had to be up on Science Hill early that morning. And they put in another long and exhausting day in the lab. In fact, it was getting to the point where both of them were enjoying their Tuesdays and Thursdays as they were breaks from their senior projects. By the time Thursday came around, both were glad they had run into Master Chun that morning or else they would have forgotten all about their first tutoring sessions that afternoon. Of course, he also reminded them of their first ping pong match that afternoon too. As they sat at their table in the dining room having breakfast, Cody sighed.

"That would have been bad if we had forgotten to show up to our tutoring sessions today. I just hope Trixie understands that I'll have to end our study session by 5:00 at the latest. I want to give us plenty of time to get over to Payne Whitney Gym before our match at 6:00."

"Same here. This Rob kid will just have to understand that too. Like I told him when he first stopped by here - if he wants my help, it will have to be on my schedule..."

And by four thirty that afternoon, Cody and Trixie were beginning to wind down their session, but Bailey just sat in her study room all alone as Rob had yet to show up for theirs. By then, she was past being just annoyed, but thankfully, she had brought her laptop with her. So with some time to waste, she went ahead and did some research the topic for the group project she and Cody had discussed for their food class. So, even though she had been stood up for her tutoring session, it hadn't been a complete and total waste of her time. At a quarter till five, Cody stopped by her study room to see if she was ready to head back to their room, but he paused when he saw she was all alone in the room.

"You two done already?"

Bailey looked up at him and sighed. "Nope. That Rob kid never showed up to get started..."

"Sorry, Sweetie. That sucks..."

She just shrugged. "It could be worse I guess. I was able to get some work done for our food group project. I'll show you what I found later, but we need to get moving so we can go change for our match." She began gathering up all of her things into her backpack and laptop bag when the door to the study room suddenly swung open again. Rob strutted inside the room with a huge grin on his face.

"Sorry, I'm late, but I got talked into a game of ultimate out on Cross Campus. Don't worry though, I lead my team to victory. But, I'm ready to get to work now though!"

Bailey just glared at him. "Well, I'm not! We have an intramural match to get to! Besides, I hardly think playing ultimate is a valid reason to skip out of your obligations when you knew we had an appointment!"

Rob looked into the room and saw Cody standing there. "We? I didn't know you were tutoring someone else too."

She turned her attention to finishing packing up her stuff. "I'm not. That's my fiance and roommate, Cody. We were both supposed to be tutoring people today. Unlike me, his person seemed to have enough manners and courtesy to actually show up..."

Rob gave her a funny look. "But I thought I saw another girl in your room last week. I thought she was your roommate..."

"Nope!" Bailey glared at him again. "Because I gave my word to Master Chun, I will give you one more chance to be here on time next Tuesday. If you are even a single second late, you're going to have to find yourself another tutor! I have my own life and studies to worry about without having to deal with someone wasting my time!"

He backed away from her and just nodded. "Yes, of course. I truly am sorry, and it won't happen again. I will be on time Tuesday, I promise. My next exam in organic is the Friday after fall break. I did alright on the first one, but this new material is kicking my butt. I need all the help I can get..." He paused and just looked at them both. "Wait a minute...aren't the two of you in my psychology of food class too?"

Bailey grabbed her things and headed for the door. "Yes, we are in the class, and lucky for you, I was able to spend the time I had here doing research for Cody and I's final project in there. But right now, we have to get going..."

And with that, she grabbed Cody's arm and pretty much pulled him out of the study room. As they walked through the tunnel back over to Berkeley North, Cody turned to Bailey.

"You okay, Sweetie?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I'm just a little ticked off right now."

He smiled at her. "Well, I'm glad you're on my team, Bails. With you this upset, I feel sorry for the other team with you smashing aces at them today..."

Bailey couldn't help it but to laugh. "Yeah, that might get kind of ugly..."

Cody laughed too. "Remind me to take our first aid kit with us just in case..."

She stopped them and leaned over and kissed him. "Thanks, Honey. You always know just how to make me feel better."

"That's my job." He paused. "So that was Rob, huh? I don't envy him with how rough you're going to be on him next week either..." He paused and shook his head. "You know, for some reason, he seems really familiar to me, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why..."

Back in the study room, Rob was still getting over the chewing out that Bailey had just given him. "Well, excuse me for being a little bit late..." He sat down in a chair and began shaking his head. "My Mom was wrong, this place does suck as bad as Princeton did..." He paused and shook his head again. "And why did that guy with her look so familiar? I mean...what kind of name is Cody anyways? The only other person I've ever known with that name was..." He stopped mid sentence and began laughing as realization dawned on him. "...Nerd Boy! That was Martin!" He just began shaking his head again with a big grin on his face. "Maybe I can have some fun around here after all..."

Boston

On Friday night, Maya became the last one to officially turn twenty-one, and she and Zack finally got to celebrate both of their birthdays. The plan for the evening was to head out for a nice dinner somewhere before heading to a club just down the street from the Tipton to do some dancing. And they weren't going to be alone that evening as Amanda and Jake would be joining them. While they were up to having some fun too, they also wanted to make sure Zack and Maya had someone to keep an eye of them and make sure they didn't do anything stupid. So after a couple of drinks themselves, Amanda and Jake cut themselves off so that at least two people would still be sober at the end of the night. And it turns out that that was a really good idea as Zack and Maya were quickly getting to the the point where neither was feeling any pain.

Amanda could only shake her head at Zack and laugh. "And here I thought you said you had no desire to ever do this again..."

Zack just gave her a look. "I don't! I'm nowhere near as bad as I was that night! For instance, I can rememebr everything that's happened to me tonight. Then, I don't remember getting from the party back to Cody's room." Of course, he then proceeded to hiccup.

"Uh huh...Well, don't look to me if you end up yacking tonight. You may be my friend and future MBA classmate and all, but that's where I draw the line..."

He began laughing. "No worries there. I definitely don't see me throwing up tonight..." He glanced over at Maya. "...now, she may be another story."

Maya rolled her eyes at him. "Don't look at me! I feel just fine!" Of course, she couldn't help but to hiccup as well.

"Riiiiight. Just remember, Babe - you're a lot smaller than I am, and this is your first time drinking. That means your tolerance ain't nothing..."

She smirked at him. "You think so, huh? Care to make a little bet then? I guarantee that you will lose your dinner before I do!"

Zack smirked back at her. "Alright, deal! Name your terms!"

"Oh, I will, and it won't be something as stupid as a dollar!" Maya paused and tried to think, but her head was getting fuzzy. But through the fog, and idea came to her. "I got it! No matter how they feel in the morning, the loser has get the winner breakfast!"

"Sounds good to me!" He grinned. "I like my eggs scrambled and my bacon crisp..."

Maya grinned right back at him. "Yeah, well I prefer my pancakes chocolate chipped and my toast with strawberry jam..."

As those two shook on their bet, Jake just shook his head and laughed. "If you two keep going the way you are, breakfast will be the last thing on your minds in the morning. One, odds are you won't be awake before noon. Two, when you do finally wake up, the mere thought of food will make you nauseous."

The night continued on, and as it got close to two in the morning, Zack and Maya were both sitting at their table barely holding on to consciousness. Shaking her head again, Amanda looked over at Jake.

"I think they've had enough for tonight. I'm giving them both less than twenty minutes before they both finally pass out."

He nodded. "I think you're right. You get Maya up on her feet, and I'll get Zack. Something tells me we're going to be used as crutches all the way back to the Tipton."

"Better that than having to carry them. Fortunately, its only for a couple of blocks down the street..."

After getting Zack and Maya up on their feet, they guided them out the front door and out into the fresh air hoping it would help some. And for the most part, the walk back to the hotel wasn't as bad as it couldn't have been as neither Zack nor Maya fell down and hurt themselves. But when they got back to the Tipton, Amanda decided to take them in through the back way so no one would see them stumbling through the lobby drunk. And that turned out to be a really good idea. When they got to the loading dock, both Zack and Maya both stopped as they felt their stomachs beginning to churn. At the same time, they both ran over to the dumpster and unleashed the demons.

Jake just shook his head and laughed again. "I'd call that a tie, wouldn't you?"

Amanda laughed too. "I'd say so...though, in the morning, I think they're both going to feel like losers..."

Once both Zack and Maya had emptied their stomachs a second time, Amanda and Jake helped them up to their suite where it took Zack several minutes to finally get the key into the lock. And once inside, he and Maya stumbled their way over to the couch. Both needed to sit down immediately as their heads were beginning to spin. Fortunately, that didn't last long - mainly because they both passed out cold within a few minutes.

Amanda shook her head. "Oh, I'm going to give them both pure hell when I talk to them tomorrow..." She turned to Jake. "Come on, lets get out of here. I don't want to be here in case they wake up and have to throw up again."

The next morning, Zack and Maya both woke up on the couch feeling like death warmed over. As they tried to get up, they felt sore all over and their stomachs felt even worse. Zack could only groan.

"Okay, I know I said it last time, but I am never going to do that again. And I mean it this time..."

Maya rubbed her eyes and sighed. "That goes double for me..."

"And Jake was right, if I tried to eat right now, I would throw up again..."

"Same here. I won't hold you to our bet then."

Zack turned to look at her. "What do you mean? I won!"

Maya laughed. "As I recall, we both blew chunks at the same time. And after the way we both must look and feel this morning, I think its safe to say nobody won."

He sighed. "You can say that again...I think I might go hop in the shower. Maybe the hot water will stop the throbbing headache I have..."

"Well, if it works, you better not waste all the hot water again..."

He laughed. "If it does work, it will take a bulldozer to get me out of there..."

She smiled and teased him. "Remember what I can do to your knee if you do..."

Zack was about to say something when there was a knock at the door. "Great. Its probably Mom. I definitely would rather her not see us like this. I can only imagine the look on her face and the lecture we're about to get..."

Sighing, he opened the door, but instead of seeing his Mom, he saw a blonde blur immediately thrown two arms around his neck and pull him in for a hug.

"Zack!"

He blinked trying to place the voice when it finally dawned on him who it was. He pulled back and looked at her in shock. "Maddie?"

To be Continued...

AN: I told you there would be two returns of old characters, and here they are. As an aside, if anyone is in the mood to watch a really strange but really good movie, Zombieland is on FX next Wednesday night. And I'm not saying its a good movie just because the lovely Miss Emma Stone is in it - but it doesn't hurt lol