Day Two
"Dude, wake up," I heard Zack's voice say, bringing me out of my peaceful sleep. I opened my eyes to see him stood over me, a look of genuine concern on his face. That made me a bit worried.
"What's up?" I asked, sitting up in bed, still trying to banish that aura of sleepiness that was hung all over me. I'm not really a morning person, and even though it was still technically night, that groggy, slumped feeling I get in the mornings had already taken hold.
"It's London," Zack said "she's gone." I couldn't believe it. London can be annoying pretty much all the time, but she's still one of my best friends, and I care for her a lot, so hearing she was gone was pretty bad news.
"She's gone?" I asked, hauling myself up from the bed with some difficulty.
"Yeah," Zack said worriedly "she took off in a helicopter for Parrot Island. Moseby wants us up on deck now." Without another word Zack turned and took off in the direction of the Sun Deck. I quickly changed out of my sweater vest into a normal T-shirt and took off after him.
I got up to the Sun Deck a little out of breath. I'm not really the "active" type. I suck at sports. I mean really suck. Disastrously awful. It's very embarrassing. So when I finally got the Sun Deck I was breathing heavily. I looked around, trying to find Zack. I finally spotted him over by the juice bar, talking to Bailey. I felt a little upsurge of jealousy when I saw them together. I couldn't help but feel that it should be me comforting Bailey. I needed something to get in good with Bailey. I spotted a random guy about to drink a smoothie and quickly rushed over to him. I grabbed the drink out of his hand, tossed him a quick "sorry" then went over to join Bailey and Zack. Normally I'm more polite than stealing drinks from strangers, but I was just overcome by this need to impress Bailey.
"Here Bailey," I said as I joined the two of them "this'll cheer you up. I ordered it just for you. It's a seaweed smoothie with a broccoli boost." I knew immediately I'd made a mess of that situation by the look of utter confusion she gave me. That was one of those moments where you just think 'god can I die now?', it was awful.
"We want her to cheer up," Zack commented "not throw up." I resisted the urge to hit him right then.
After an excruciatingly long awkward moment where I distracted myself from my thoughts of 'please let the earth open and swallow me' by listening to Mr. Moseby on the phone to the captain of the ship, the ship suddenly lurched to the side, unbalancing me. I tried to stay upright but it was no good and I toppled backwards, inadvertently sending the contents of the smoothie all over his clean blue suit. Almost immediately Bailey burst out laughing. Oh that sound! I've never heard a more beautiful laugh in all my life. Soon Zack joined in and I quickly followed. All of us were laughing, except Mr. Moseby, which was understandable.
"Told ya my smoothie would cheer her up," I said to Zack through my laughter.
Several hours, one nap, a shower and a change later and all the students were gathered in the lobby of the ship, with Miss Tutweiller taking stock of who was there.
"Okay," she said, looking at the register "everyone's here…except Zack Martin."
"Get used to that," I told her. Zack was always late for stuff. Important stuff mostly.
"Here," he suddenly yelled from behind her, making her jump in surprise "sorry. I overslept."
"We were in biology class," I said.
"Exactly." Me and Bailey both looked at him with matching expressions of confusion. Well, hers was confusion. I'd gotten used to Zack. He slept in school. Always had. I was amazed he'd even been allowed to enrol here.
"Anyway," said Tutweiller "this unscheduled stop to look for London on this tropical island presents us with a unique educational opportunity –"
"We're gonna learn how to surf," Zack interrupted, genuinely sounding like he though that was the right answer.
"Yeah, cowabunga," said Woody, doing an embarrassing mime of surfing "hang eleven!"
"It's hang ten," I corrected him, just lost for any sort of proper words.
"Not when you got eleven toes," he said, and seemed to be very happy with telling us all that, smiling happily as my stomach turned over on itself; that was just the most disgusting thing I had ever heard.
"You've got 6 toes on one foot?" Zack asked.
"No, eight and three," Woody said simply. My stomach lurched again, worse than before and I actually felt physically sick for a moment as me and Bailey crossed over to the other side of the lobby, away from Woody. Even Tutweiller looked to physically disturbed by that unwanted piece of information.
"I meant," she clarified "an opportunity to study the history of the island. Now Parrot Island we colonised –"
"By the British," Bailey cut Tutweiller off "at the tail end of the Age of Exploration." She turned to me with a little smile and I returned it. That one smile of hers filled my whole body with happiness, and even just being near her kept that feeling alive.
"Well, to be more precise –" Tutweiller began, probably just trying to get back in control of the educational information, but this time I cut her off.
"1762," I said "Wednesday, around lunch." I had said it just to try to show off to Bailey in the only way I knew how; by being smart. It seemed to work too, as she smiled at me again.
"Thank you," said Tutweiller and I could tell she was getting annoyed "well, let's take a look at this lush paradise." We went to look out at the island and even from the distance of the ship we could tell it wasn't a "lush paradise". There were almost no trees; it looked more like a barren wasteland. I couldn't help but think that someone should have looked the island over before starting the 'lesson', but that thought was quickly overridden by Woody grossing everyone out once again but telling us, quite against our own will, that he had 'green' between his seventh and eighth toes.
A short while later and we were all on the island. My observations about "barren wasteland" turned out to be pretty true. There was one small town and it was pretty much deserted. Quite depressing really. But you know me, always looking at the positive side of things. Me and Bailey shared a few more laughs as we interrupted Tutweiller's lesson, and then it came time to choose a 'buddy' for the trip. I immediately went over to Bailey and took her arms in mine. Zack did the exact same thing on her other side, and some how I wasn't surprised.
"I call dibs," I said, trying to drag Bailey away from Zack. I shouldn't have been so callous, but that twinge of jealousy I got from seeing Zack and Bailey together on the Sun Deck was back even stronger than before.
"I saw her first," Zack countered, pulling Bailey towards him. I pulled back.
"Guys," Bailey said from between us "I'm not the last slice of pizza!" I immediately felt guilty for trying to be so possessive of her.
"Of course you're not," Zack said, then addressed me "can I talk to you?" We let go of Bailey and he led me a little bit away from the group, his arm over my shoulder and a weird smile fixed on his face.
"Why are you hitting on Bailey?" he asked through the clenched teeth of his fake smile "you have a girlfriend." Oh no! Barbara! I'd been so busy trying to spend time with Bailey I'd forgotten about her. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten her!
"Barbara!" Zack said. Apparently I'd been silent for a while and he thought I'd forgotten her name.
"I remember her name," I said "Look, before we left I told her it might be hard for me to resist the advances of beautiful exotic women from around the world." All of that was true. I had told her that, but she didn't buy any of it and laughed in my face. But now thinking about her again I felt guilty about my feeling for Bailey, and I got a knot in my stomach. I don't know why I was so guilty; nothing was going to happen. It was just a crush. Just a lingering, thought-enveloping crush that I couldn't stop thinking about.
"What'd she say?" Zack asked.
"She laughed," I said "but I took it as a go for it." That last part was a lie. She did laugh but I didn't take it that way. Because I never thought I'd fall for anyone else. Guess I was wrong there; I could tell already things were going to get complicated.
With a shake of his head Zack pushed me away and we went off down a path between two shops. After a short walk we ran into Bailey, who was scribbling something on her notepad.
"Wow, you are just an incredible artist," Zack complimented.
"I was just trying to get my pen to work," Bailey explained with a chuckle, scribbling madly on her notebook again. I leant in towards Zack and put my arm round him.
"Smooth," I whispered, taunting him. Zack pushed me backwards, away from Bailey.
"Didn't you say you have to go to the bathroom?" he demanded.
"I'm not leaving you alone with Bailey," I told him simply "and besides, the bathroom is only half a coconut." I had no desire to do my business in half a coconut, and I knew if I left Zack alone with Bailey he'd step up his flirting as much as possible, and I didn't want that.
"Actually it's more comfortable than it looks," Woody said, arriving in the area folding up a newspaper "and those 2-ply palm leaves? Surprisingly soft." I just looked at him in total confusion. And to think, I used to believe Zack was the weirdest person I'd ever meet.
All of a sudden I heard a snort from somewhere below me and looked down to see a big peeking out of a bush. Bailey immediately rushed towards it.
"Look!" she said happily "where did that little piggy come from?"
"That's what the doctor said when he saw my extra toe," Woody said, and I shuddered and immediately tried to put the image out of my mind.
"Are you stuck?" Bailey asked the pig, squatting down next to it "here I have something for you. You like nuts?" She held out a handful of peanuts to the pig, which greedily ate them all. I was amazed at how kind to animals Bailey was, immediately taking a fondness to a stray pig. It just made me like her even more.
"Oh this rope'll work as a leash," Bailey said, trying a length of spare rope around the pig's neck and leading it out of the hedge "aww, he's so sweet. He reminds me of my-"
"Breakfast?" asked Zack
"Football?" I chimed in. I couldn't help myself.
"Y'all hush up," Bailey said sternly "he reminds me of my pet pig from back on the farm. Sir Snort-a-lot and I were best friends. Then one day I woke up and he wasn't there any more. I got really worried but momma told me he moved to the big city." Zack, Woody and I all knew what had really happened to Sir Snort-a-lot but none of us wanted to tell Bailey. I felt sorry for her. I knew what it was like to lose a beloved pet. I still remember the time I lost Tim my pet rock. It took me get over that.
"I'm gonna call you Porkers," said Bailey to the pig, stroking it "you like that name?" Porkers snorted happily. Suddenly Miss Tutweiller appeared and told us that the boat was leaving in an hour and she still couldn't find Mr. Moseby or London. She ran off to find them and Bailey said that because London running away is partly her fault, she was going to go help search for them.
"Me too," Zack immediately said, grabbing one of Bailey's arms. I still had no desire to leave Zack and Bailey alone together, so I volunteered to go as well, grabbing Bailey's other arm.
"Great," she said, then slid free of our grip "then we'll use the buddy system. You guys go that way, and I'll go this way with Woody." With that she headed off, leaving me and Zack very disappointed.
"She digs the Woodman," Woody said with a cocky smile before strutting off after Bailey.
"Yeah I'm sure that extra toe is a real chick magnet," Zack said, laughing at his own joke. But I really wished people would stop mentioning Woody's deformed feet; I never wanted to think about that ever again for as long as I lived.
"Listen Zack," I said "you need to back off with Bailey."
"I don't think so," Zack protested, as stubborn as always "I think you should."
"No way," I said "I've got more of a shot than you have!"
"How?"
"Bailey's smart. Very smart," I explained "and you're just…you."
"It's not over till it's over," Zack said simply "but right now we've gotta focus on finding Moseby and London."
"Right," I agreed "we need to split up. We'll cover more ground that way." We could leave our argument over Bailey until later when London and Moseby were safe and sound.
"Good thinking," Zack agreed "I'll check around town, you check down at the beach. Right?"
"Good plan," I said "meet back here in half an hour." Zack agreed and I set off at a run down to the beach. I'm not any good at running, but I had to. Time was running out to find London and Moseby, so I had to hurry. It took me about 5 minutes of solid sprinting to get down to the beach, and another 5 to comb all over it, looking for them. I felt physically sick and my legs felt like jelly, but I knew I had to keep going. 20 minutes left and I ran down to the docks to see if anyone had seen them around. No sign of them. With my legs about to collapse under me, I ran anywhere I could think of, even up the mountain. No sign of London or Moseby anywhere. I didn't see Bailey or Woody around either, and with 10 minutes left until the ship was set to leave, I decided to head back to town to meet up with Zack again.
I got back to the meeting place totally out of breath. My chest and legs were killing me and I could barely breath. Zack, meanwhile, was sat in a deck chair, his feet up, eating a lump of cotton candy.
"Oh hey," he said as I arrived, panting heavily with sweat pouring down my forehead "any sign of Moseby or London?"
"No," I panted "I checked the docks, hiked up the mountain, and ran the whole perimeter of the island!" I was getting angry. I had just ran to exhaustion while he was sat there eating candy.
"Well," he said, noticing my look of pure hatred "they're not in the candy store."
"If I had the energy," I said "I would smack you so hard." And I really meant it. The problem with him hitting on Bailey had made me angry at him, but him sitting there doing nothing while I had nearly killed myself was getting close to being the last straw. I heard a loud snort from behind me and turned to see Porkers, Bailey's new pig, stood there.
"Quiet pig," said Zack "we're trying to find Mr. Moseby and London over here."
"Wait a minute," I said, going over to Porkers and kneeling beside him "he was with Bailey. I think he's trying to tell us something." Porkers had been snorting incessantly, and it was only then that I noticed a note taped to his side.
"Nah he just wants me cotton candy," said Zack "get your own, pig!" My god Zack could be greedy sometimes.
"London, Moseby, Bailey and Woody are all locked in jail and we need to rescue them?" I said, reading from the note taped to Porkers.
"Wow!" Zack exclaimed "you speak pig?" That urge to hit him came back again.
"No," I said, taking the note off of Porkers "but I can read English. There's a note taped to him." I showed the note to Zack, and in the distance we heard the foghorn of the ship bellow out over the island.
"Oh dude, the boat leaves in 30 minutes," said Zack sounding worried "we better hurry."
"Come on pig, take us to Bailey," I said to Porkers, at the same time thinking 'I'm insane, I'm talking to a farm animal'. Porkers snorted loudly.
"Oh alright," I agreed, and grabbed Zack's cotton candy, kneeling down and feeding some to Porkers.
"Hey!" Zack protested as I gave the rest of the candy back to him, but he sniffed at it then took another bite. I made sure to save the memory of that as ammo for later and led the way towards the local jail.
5 minutes later we were outside the jail.
"Lift me up," said Zack, meaning for me to lift him so he could see through the cell window.
"Why don't you lift me up?" I countered. I'd just sprinted round the island and I wasn't in the mood to hoist Zack up on my shoulders.
"I was born first!" was Zack's reply
"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked.
"Oh just get up here!" Moseby was at the window, looking at us with his usual glare of vague annoyance. With a resigned sigh I ducked under Zack's legs and lifted him up. The pain in my shoulders was instantly almost unbearable. Zack had gotten a lot heavier since the last time I did this.
"Mr. Moseby how did you get up here?" Zack asked.
"I'm standing on Woody," Moseby admitted.
"You could have taken your shoes off," I heard Woody say from inside the cell.
"How did you guys all wind up in there?" asked Zack.
"It's a long story," Moseby said.
"Ugh can we save the chit-chat for later?" I asked, the strain of holding up Zack really taking its toll on my shoulders and my legs. I was gonna collapse at any minute.
"Yeah I'm with Cody on that," I heard Woody agree.
"Look, you have to break us out of here," Moseby said desperately "did you bring the proper tools?"
"No," I strained out "unfortunately the prison breakout store was closed." I heard London say something from inside the cell, but couldn't quite hear it. Probably a complaint or something to do with her outfit.
"Err, Mr. Moseby?" I heard Woody say "if you're just kinda watching at this point, do you think you should get off my back!?" I heard Moseby step down from Woody. Unfortunately Zack didn't get off of me.
"You know," he said "these bars seem a little bit loose. I may be able to get in if only I had a-"
"Crowbar?" I heard a man's voice say from next to us. It was a large man in a Hawaiian shirt and an old-fashioned English policeman's hat. I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it odd. He handed Zack a crowbar.
"Exactly, thanks," Zack said, taking the crowbar from the man without looking at him.
"You're welcome," Zack said, and finally turned to the man.
- - - - - Later - - - - -
"What part of 'rescuering' do you not understand?" London said. If I wasn't so tired I would have corrected her. Zack wasn't on my shoulders any more, which was good. But being in prison sort of put a damper on my relief.
"All of it," said Moseby "it's either 'rescuer' or 'rescuing'."
"Well you're not good at eitherer," said London. I was amazed at how air-headed London could be sometimes.
"Zack," I said "whenever I pictured us in prison, I was always on the other side of the bars saying 'take the plea!'" The foghorn sounded again.
"Oh the ship leaves in ten minutes," Moseby said "Constable Simms, Constable Simms!" Simms entered the office, dressed in yellow and black exercise clothes.
"I am trying to teach a Pilates class," he said, managing to make it sound as if it was normal for him to be doing that, which I suppose, for him, it was, then turned back to the door and yelled out "work from your corgar! Feel the burn!"
"Simms," Moseby said, getting desperate now "if you let us out of here now, I will arrange for Tipton Industries to make full reparations for scaring off the parrots and cutting down the trees."
"That's what your father did?" Bailey asked London "that's terrible." She cared about the environment too. Could there ever be a more perfect girl in the world?
"I know how I'd feel if someone came to Kettlecorn, took all of our corn and left us with just the kettle," Bailey continued, then addressed Simms "no wonder you put us in jail!" Moseby made an impatient squeeking noise to tell Bailey to stop talking.
"Not helping," he said.
"Now if you'll excuse me," said Simms "I have to finish Pilates, perform a root canal and conduct the orchestra for our little theatre production of 'Where, oh where, have our parrots gone?'" Then he turned and swiftly left the room.
"Well that's it," Moseby said "we're all going to die in here." It was odd and quite sad to see Moseby, who was always so determined to make any situation right, acting so resigned to his fate.
"No," Bailey moaned, sounding really sad. Something in my heart rallied me to help her.
"I'll comfort you," I said, standing up from the bench of the cell.
"I'll comfort her first," Zack said and we both rushed over to Bailey as fast as possible. In our rush we ended up slammed up against the bars and Bailey went to sit on the bench.
"Look," I said to Zack quietly "we've got to work this Bailey thing out in a mature and rational way."
"I couldn't agree more," Zack said and I was genuinely surprised by his apparent maturity, "spitting contest!" I was disappointed that he wasn't maturing after all, but I was fresh out of ideas so we both started getting our spit ready.
"Agh no, wait a minute," Moseby said, acting disgusted with us "you're really going to decide who ends up with Bailey by a spitting contest?" I guess he'd overheard us.
"You know what, he's right," Zack said, again seeming to be taking the more mature road, but then shattered the illusion again by turning to Moseby and saying "pick a number between one and ten."
"No, I am not going to participate in your objectification of women," Moseby insisted.
"Seven!"
"How did you know?" Moseby asked but then collected himself "oh okay never mind! Bailey's not looking for a relationship anyway. Still hasn't gotten over her ex boyfriend Moose."
"How do you know this?" I asked, totally surprised that Moseby knew so much, as well as feeling really guilty for being so quick to decide between me and Zack who gets Bailey without ever considering her feelings.
"When you're in the slammer," Moseby said "you get to know somebody."
I shared a quick look of 'what?' with Zack.
"She told me how they shared their first cob of corn together," Moseby said "their first hayride. They were so good together!" He was tearing up on the last sentence and quickly turned away from us, trying to hide his tears.
"She'll all yours dude," Zack said and I had to double-take to see if I'd heard him right.
"Really?" I asked, suspicious of his possible motives "why?"
"She's checkin way too much baggage," Zack explained "and I like a babe with just a carry-on."
"Unlike you," I said "I'm willing to do the work." I acted calm on the outside but something deep inside my chest and my heart was roaring with triumph! Suddenly Porkers ran into the office.
"Porkers!" Bailey exclaimed "we're saved!"
"Why?" asked Moseby "does he have a law degree?" We all moved the cell door.
"Not, but he can get the keys," Bailey explained, then talked to Porkers "okay, go to his desk, open the drawer, get the master keys and bring them here to me."
"Ooh, and bring me a decaffé non-fat latte with extra foam," London interjected and I inwardly cringed at her.
"Bailey," said Moseby "you can't possibly believe this animal understands you." He was proven wrong as Porkers headed straight to Simms's desk.
"The keys are in the drawer on the left," Bailey told Porkers, who snorted something in response.
"Not that drawer," Bailey corrected "the one on the left!" Another snort from Porkers. I didn't know how this could possibly be happening, but I was just glad that it was.
"Not your left, my left," Bailey clarified in response.
"What about my Latte?" London asked and I couldn't hold back a sigh. But my annoyance with her was quickly replaced with curiosity as the sound of coffee being made came from behind the desk.
"Oh forgot the coffee!" yelled Moseby "bring the keys!" Suddenly the cell keys flew towards Bailey from behind the desk and she caught them.
"Nice throw," she commented as he unlocked the door. I pushed it open and we all poured out.
"Okay," I said, hearing the ship's foghorn once again "we have 5 minutes. If we run we can just make it." It was true but I really didn't want to do more running, but I guess needs must, so we all legged it out of the police station.
"My latte!" I heard London say from the door of the police station, but I didn't have time to go back and get her. Luckily Zack did, and we all made our way to the ship as fast as possible.
"Hurry," Moseby said as we neared the ship "we're almost to the ship." I had no desire to stay behind, so I got a move on!
"Hey hey," I heard Bailey call out from behind us "wait wait wait!" Against my judgement I turned back. Zack got there ahead of me, and London appeared shortly afterwards.
"Look at these postcards," Bailey said, examining one.
"Look, you can send postcards from the next port!" Zack said desperately.
"No, I mean, look at how lush and beautiful this island used to be," Bailey said.
"And now it's a dump," London said "let's get out of here." Zack tried to pull Bailey along to the ship but she resisted.
"It's a dump because your father ruined it," Bailey said "you should fix it." I admired her love of nature, but this really wasn't the time for this sort of talk.
"She's right," I agreed with her nonetheless "it's that kind of corporate greed that's destroying the environment."
"Wow," said London, looking at the postcard "this place really did use to be beautiful."
"Yes," said Moseby who had arrived behind me "and we can all my sad about it on the boat." He made waves of his arms to try and shepherd us along, but we weren't going anywhere.
"And now that it's not beautiful," London said with a sad face "Daddy doesn't care anymore. Kind of like with his first four wives." She handed the postcard to Bailey.
"You know, London," I said "if you paid to replant the island maybe the parrots would come back."
"And the islanders would be so grateful they might put your picture on their coin," said Bailey. I had to hand it to her, she was smart. Mentioning money is a sure-fire way to get London to do something.
"Ooh do you really think so?" London asked, giddy with excitement just at the thought "then I could flip myself to decide what shoes to wear!" Suddenly Simms, still dressed in his Pilates clothes but with a whistle and policeman's helmet, appeared from behind us.
"Halt!" he yelled "you're surrounded."
"By just you?" asked Woody, and it was true. It was only him. How he had us 'surrounded' I don't know but he was obviously a bit mentally abnormal, so I guess it's excusable.
"Pretty much," Simms admitted.
"How about I help you replant the trees by writing you a check for ten million dollars?" asked London who had her pink fluffy chequebook out. I still couldn't get my heard around her ability to simply write cheques for massive amounts of money without any repercussions.
"That' d work," Simms said, then took the cheque from her.
"And feel free to use some of that to buy yourself new pants," London said before running for the ship. Typical London. We all followed on.
"Goodbye," I heard Simms shout kindly. Funny how money can make someone completely change.
- - - - - Later - - - - -
"Well this has been a fun-filled two days," I said as me, Zack and Bailey stood on the Sun Deck.
"Tell me about it," said Zack "totally exhausting."
"You didn't do anything!" I said "I ran all over the island while you sat there eating cotton candy!"
"Where'd that candy go anyway?" Zack asked, rummaging through his pockets.
"I think I saw Porkers with it over that way," Bailey said, pointing towards the juice bar.
"Thieving pig!" Zack exclaimed "get back here with my candy!" He ran off in the direction Bailey pointed to.
"Porkers hasn't got his candy has he?" I asked with a smirk.
"Nope," Bailey said, producing the candy from her pocket "I took it. Want some?"
"Sure," I said and she split the cotton candy in half and gave me some "thanks." We each took a bite, me with a big smile on my face.
"Well, I gotta get back to my room before London goes insane with redecorating," Bailey said "I'll see you later Cody."
"Bye," I said and she gave me a quick hug before hurrying off to her room. I stood there for a moment. Bailey had hugged me! My smile got even bigger and I collapsed back into a deck chair.
"Best day ever," I said quietly to myself before closing my eyes and enjoying the sun on the Deck.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Author Note - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
So you may have noticed that these last 2 chapters are basically re-tellings of the episodes "Suite Life sets Sail" and "Parrot Island" from Cody's point of view. I just wanted to do these two as they were on the show because they really introduce Bailey and establish a bit of her relationship with Cody. So from here on out I'll be using my own ideas for the chapters, so they might take longer to be uploaded because I have to think of my ideas. But they'll be more focused on the relationships of the characters rather than the events happening.
I'm new to actually doing proper writing like this, so don't blame me, and please don't be too harsh in the flames that I am sure to get.
Oh, and don't worry, there isn't going to be 1 chapter for each day. I don't have the attention span for that. I'll be jumping forward in time quite a lot. Maybe even back in time too if I get an idea for a chapter that doesn't fit in with story advancement, so if I do I'll put that as in the past. So it's not all one chronological story.