The first time I met Bailey, she was a guy. Zack had suggested that him and me switch roommates, and I was just glad to get rid of Woody. He was more the kind of guy Zack would like to room with, because Zack is gross. So I had the feeling he and Woody would get along fine. I didn't really have anything for or against Bailey, but "he" was smart and the sort of guy I could actually enjoy getting along with, much more so than Woody whom within a few minutes of me meeting him had practically gassed me to death with his habit of farting classic rock songs.
"Woody," I said, walking into our room to find him chewing his fingernails. I put that bad habit out of mind for a while
"Yeah Coholy?" Woody asked.
"It's Cody," I correct, wondering how long it would take him to get my name right "and I've got something to ask you."
"Go for it."
"You like Zack right?"
"Yeah," Woody exclaimed "the guy's a total riot."
"If you say so," I muttered "so me and him have an idea. You could room with Zack instead of me. What do you say?" Woody pondered the idea for a while. I could actually hear the hamster going running a mile-a-minute on the wheel in his brain. Not to say that Woody's stupid, but he's certainly not the sharpest crayon in the box.
"Okay, I'm up for it!" he said after a while with a wide smile.
"Great!" I said and immediately rushed out of the room. I just wanted to get Woody out of the room as soon as possible. Might seem rude but I didn't see how I'd be able to survive the year with him.
"Okay Zack, Woody's willing to…why are you guys holding hands?" I had walked in and Zack and Bailey were holding hands. I never really get surprised by anything Zack does now, I've gotten to know him so well, but this was a total shock.
"Ermm…secret handshake," Zack said nervously and he and Bailey cobbled together some random assortments of different handshakes. It was just painfully obvious that they were making it up on the spot, but Zack was so committed to the charade that I didn't bother calling him on it.
"Oh, by the way, I'm not switching roommates," Zack said suddenly, forcing me backwards into the hallway and slamming the door in my face. Now I love Zack. I pretty much have to love him. But sometimes – well, most of the time – he can be so annoying. This was one of those times. As I prepared myself for the assault on my senses that Woody was bound to unleash when I went back into the room I kept thinking this over. Zack had been totally ready to switch roommates with me, then I found him and Bailey holding hands and he refused to switch with Woody. All of this led immediately to a very obvious conclusion, but I didn't quite want to think that.
With a sigh I braced myself and went back into the room with Woody.
My…suspicions…about Zack and Bailey were becoming harder and harder to ignore. That afternoon we all went to the ship's game room, and when Bailey was having a bit of difficulty with playing pool, Zack wasted no time in getting up behind "him" and guiding "his" hands into the proper place on the cue and helping "him" with "his" aim.
"What are you guys doing?" I couldn't help but ask. I mean what would you do if you're brother was being oddly flirty with a guy, acting as if she was a girl. Then I tacked on to a theory. Bailey was a girl! Almost as soon as I thought it I realised how stupid it was. Sure, looking at him he looked moderately feminine, but a lot of guys have very gently, feminine features. Jumping to conclusions was never a good thing to do, so I put that thought out of my mind. How wrong I was.
Woody left the game room after complaining that me and him don't get along as well as Zack and Bailey do, which considering how Zack and Bailey were acting was a disturbing thought in and of itself. So much so that I had to suppress a shudder. London arrived, complaining about the "stupid sea school". God knows I would have been annoyed if I hadn't known London since I was 12. I was well used to her habit of endlessly complaining when something doesn't go her way.
Me, London, Zack and Bailey ended up missing an announcement of the ship's sinking drill, so we all thought it was a real emergency. Naturally chaos ensued, as it always did with my life, especially when Zack in involved. I still don't know how but we always end up getting into ridiculous situations. I think Zack just has a natural curse on him that causes chaos to develop in his wake, and, lucky me, I always end up getting swept up by it. I'm not without my moments, but I'm more responsible and try to avoid getting in trouble, whereas Zack seems to thrive on it.
So anyway, after a mad dash through the ship to life jackets (with London complaining that she'd have to change her outfit because the life jacket was orange – typical London) we all ended up soaking wet in the hot tub with every other student looking at us wondering what the hell was wrong with us.
I will always remember that day. Not because of the sheer embarrassment that it causes. And not because of the discomfort of being fully clothed in a hot tub, with a life jacket and 3 other people. No, I'll remember that day because that's when I found out Bailey was actually a girl after all.
"Here's your hat dude," I said, noting that Bailey's hat had come off in the process of us all flying randomly into the tub, but when handing it to her, her long, gorgeous hair was the tip-off that she was a girl.
"Oh my god you're a girl," I said, sounding ridiculously shocked at the revelation. I had mostly said it just to confirm it to myself. I still couldn't believe it. I could get my heard round her being a girl, yes. I just couldn't believe how well she'd passed herself off as a guy. And in that wet, uncomfortable moment, her and Zack's interaction made sense. He knew she was a girl!
About an hour later and after getting (mostly) dried off all four of us were sat there the juice bar, wrapped in towels, with Miss Tutweiller scolding Bailey about lying on her application. Seeing Bailey look so sad and crestfallen really did something to me. I was overcome with a desire to help her. She needed someone's help at this time, but before I could step in on her behalf, Zack truly surprised me by doing so.
I have to admit, despite my surprise at Zack actually doing something decent for someone else out of selflessness, he did a better job than I could have. He obviously knew the whole story, of how the girl's spots for the semester had been filled, and about how Bailey had applied as a guy to get away from her small Kansas town. I felt sorry for her deep down. The extent of the story I knew up until that point is that Bailey had applied for Seven Seas High as a guy. That was the reach of my knowledge.
I had never, at that point, been happier than when it was revealed that Bailey could stay on the ship. I didn't want her to leave. I wanted to spend time with her, get to know her more. Sort of weird since I'd only known her for a day, and only known she was a girl for about an hour. But that's the way life works sometimes.
After London had run off after finding out that Bailey was going to her roommate, Moseby sent us all back to our rooms.
I got back to my room to find Woody there fast asleep; totally oblivious to what had just gone on. I laid myself down on my bed, hands behind my head, staring up at the darkened ceiling. I hadn't noticed how tired the events of my first day of school had made me. 'Hell of a way to start off a new semester' I thought to myself as I slowly drifted off to sleep.