.:Chapter 04:.

How to Get Into Shape

Zack woke up and glanced at the clock, he groaned seeing that it was only the early morning. Though he was a heavy sleeper, once he was awake, he was awake. Pressing the heels of his palms to his eyes, he yawned loudly and turned onto his side, a peaceful sigh rolling from his mouth.

He wriggled under the covers, pulling them up to his chin to get away from the chilled air that was pawing at him. Not good enough. So Zack rolled in the opposite direction, instinctively burrowing into the warmth next to him.

The warmth next to him.

Zack's eyes slowly opened and he smiled, practically pressed up against his face were the faint contours of Max's face. She was sleeping on her back, one arm thrown dramatically over her hair. Her top half leant away slightly, revealing the curve of a few ribs uncovered by her disheveled t-shirt. Zack raised his head and unblinking, watched Max as she slept soundly. It took a few seconds of silence before the memories of the night slammed into him, causing him to grin. Sucking in half a breath, he stretched before glancing at his watch. Better get her outta here before Mom wakes up. He reached over and gently shook her shoulder. He waited a few seconds before shaking her again.

Max let out a sleepy groan and opened her eyes slowly. She smiled at Zack before stretching her arms over her head. She rested her arm over her eyes for a moment. "What time is it?"

"About six thirty," Zack said. He pulled back the covers and swung his legs out of bed. Placing his feet on the floor, he grabbed his discarded jeans and jumped into them, pulling them up over his boxers and zipping them in one smooth motion. "You gotta get out of here." He grabbed his t-shirt and pulled it on before turning back to her. "Mom'll freak if she finds out."

"Well, your Mom is a heavy sleeper, so I should be able to get out of here, no problem." Max sat up, smoothing down her hair before grabbing her shorts and pulling them on. She glanced around the room and laughed lightly, picking up her coat and sports bag. "Where's Cody?"

Zack smirked. "I made him sleep in the closet."

Max's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "In the closet?"

"Hey, he was the one that made his entire room out of the closet and managed to fit the house keeping staff, a pizza delivery boy, a big screen TV, and a hot tub in there." Zack shrugged. "I didn't think he'd mind if I stuck in there one more day." He then smiled evilly. "Besides, putting him in the closet may help him later in life."

Max laughed quietly and smacked her boyfriend on the arm. "You're so mean to him, dude." She stepped forward and gave him a long kiss. "I can't hang out later today; Tapeworm's and my parents are doing their annual boating trip. I'm not gonna have cell reception either."

"Alright, see ya." Zack opened the door to the room and stuck his head out. Carey was sprawled across the couch, snoring loudly. He didn't see any sign of Cody either, the coast was clear. Zack walked Max over to the front door and quietly opened it. The two exchanged another peck and he closed the door behind her. Turning, Zack grabbed onto the doorknob to the closet and wrenched the door open.

Cody, being a light sleeper, shot up immediately. He glanced at the time and then looked at his brother before scrambling to gather up his pillows and blankets. "I thought you said that she would be out of the room sometime last night."

"Sorry." Zack leaned against the doorframe, watching his brother. "Not like you would know, but something like that can take a lot out of you." He grinned, his light blue eyes flashing. Cody glanced over at their mother as she let out another loud snore. When he turned his gaze back to Zack, he looked amused more than annoyed.

"Or make you lose your voice," Cody said. After a moment of silence, his lips curled into a smirk directed towards his older brother. "I didn't realize that you could be so loud." He held up a hand before running it through his hair. "I mean, I knew you could be loud, but-"

"Wasn't me." Zack held his hands up defensively. He turned on his heel and the two of them went to their room. "Anyway, Max and Tapeworm are going boating with their parents today, like they do every year, so what do you want to do today? We could rag on Moseby or go the mall…"

"Why don't we just go over to Christian's place and hang out over there?" Cody suggested.

He dropped his pillow and blankets on to the bed before starting to fold them neatly. Zack raised an eyebrow as he watched. Cody had managed to loosen up a lot over the years, but he was still an organized neat freak. So much so that he still made a 'chore chart' for cleaning up their room. He wouldn't admit it, but it did help Zack stay organized with his own responsibilities. His mother had been surprised to see that he had matured a bit over the years and was able to clean up his side of the room and keep it reasonably neat.

It's just something else that people don't expect me to do. Zack frowned at the thought, still watching his brother. He snapped back to attention as Cody continued to speak.

"You know, if you can keep your attention off of Max for a while, though with Riles, Rhubes, and Crys around, it shouldn't be that difficult," Cody continued, shooting a glance at Zack.

Zack stuck his tongue out at Cody before grabbing a pillow off of his bed. He lobbed it at Cody, laughing at the satisfied smack it created. "It's not my fault that I have an appreciation for all women. Maybe you'll actually get yourself another girlfriend soon. Maybe Bailey."

"Bailey and I are just friends," Cody said. "Besides, I could never date her. How can you date someone that is your direct competition in math bowls, trivia challenges, and science fairs?" He shook his head. "It'd never work." He looked at his watch. "Do you think it's too early to call over there and see if they're up?"

"Knowing them, they never sleep," Zack remarked.

"Give that back!"

"You have to catch me, first!"

"Pat, I'm not kidding!"

Crystal laughed as she jumped to the side, watching as Noah chased Patrick through the living room, holding a remote high over his head. She walked over to the dining room table and set a stack of plates, forks, cups, and knives down at the head. Picking up a stack of forks, she walked around the table, setting them at each place as she went. She glanced around the living room, Riley and Rhuben were sitting on the couch, watching TV and finishing up their homework so they didn't have to spend the rest of the weekend on it, Sydney and Aaron were sitting at the dining room table, looking at something on Sydney's laptop.

"And then you measure the calibrations and add it into the research as well," Sydney said. He looked up and smiled as Crystal walked around them, putting the silverware down.

"So how does this project correlate all of the information together?" Aaron's forehead wrinkled. He sat back in his seat, the movement causing his blonde hair to fall over his eyes. "How is this going to affect Christian's work?"

Sydney frowned. "Hmm. Maybe I should ask." He sat up straight in his seat and tried to get his cousin's attention. "Crys, when's Uncle Christian getting back from the gym?"

"Not for another hour, I think," Crystal replied. She reached out and pushed down on the lid to the laptop. "Why don't you just wait until he gets back and ask him then. You're only ten; you don't need to stress out about this stuff." Sydney and Aaron shrugged and slid out of their chairs and went into the living room, joining in the fray of trying to wrestle the remote from Patrick. "Guys, cut it out!"

"They're not going to stop anytime soon, you know that," Rhuben said. She tilted her head back, her black hair falling over the back of the couch. She locked her eyes on her cousin. "So I don't see why you even bother."

"Thanks for the help, cuz," Crystal shot back.

"You're welcome."

Crystal laughed, things was never a dull moment when you got the Mannings and Jacksons together. It was worse when you had them, Zack, and Cody all together. We have gotten into some pretty weird situations, Crystal thought as she continued to walk around the table, setting up the glasses and dishes. After everything was set in its right place, she went into the kitchen. Grabbing a pair of oven mitts off of the rack above the stove, she opened the oven door and pulled out a piping hot pan of egg casserole with bacon. Smiling to herself she allowed the buttery, salty scents fill her nose; the eggs had come out to a nice golden hue, the greens and reds of the peppers greatly contrasted with the gold. The aroma from all of the ingredients blended together in a delectable aroma of breakfast. Crystal placed the pan on the stove then turned around; she picked up a bag of bagels and started to take them out, buttering them before sticking them into the toaster.

Her phone buzzed and she turned to it. She glanced at the screen before opening the text that Tapeworm had sent her.

Tape: Have you seen Max? We're leaving soon?

Where else would she be if she's not dancing or practicing some sport? She, Bailey, Riley, and Rhuben had found their plans with Max falling through every now and then. So much so that they weren't sure where she was half the time. Probably with Zack. Wouldn't be a surprise if she had to sneak in through her window this morning. Haha.

However, Max wasn't the kind of girl that would make one main thing her top priority, she gave everyone equal time and equal attention and it was all that they could ask for. They had their own things to work with. When they were young, they had nothing but time to hang out with each other. Now that college and their futures were looming closer, they were becoming used to plans changing last minute and working for weeks to get things set up.

"Time's really flown by," Crystal murmured. "I can't remember the last time all of us had a free weekend to hang out together." Her phone buzzed in her hand, alerting her to another text.

Tape: Better brush up on my excuses when her Mom and Dad start to ask around. Should be here soon.

Crys: Yeah, don't worry about it. So you're going to be on the boat all day? Did you get some practice in this morning at least?

Tape: Yeah, I did the layup drill that you were telling me about. Thanks for that by the way. You and Patrick and Noah didn't have to help me and Cody practice. I would've told Max and Zack about it, but they probably would have laughed at us or something.

Crystal took a moment before replying. Or something, she thought. Everyone knew that Zack and Max had been the better basketball players out of everyone since middle school when the team was co-ed. They were an unstoppable team. Crystal was a step below them in skills, not the best, but very good, able to hold her own. Tapeworm and Cody had been good enough to be on the Team, however as Arwin was their coach and he was as unsuited for the game as Cody was, he typically kept the younger twin on the bench while giving Tapeworm more playing time. Tapeworm wasn't bad although there was definite room for improvement.

When Tapeworm and Cody had come up to Crystal, asking if she would help them practice, at first, she thought they were crazy. Part of her felt bad for immediately dismissing the thought of them playing the game and decided to ask Patrick and Noah for help as well. She had never met anyone as aggressive or athletic as her cousins, and as Riley and Rhuben sucked at the game and Sydney was too short to even pose as a threat, the raven haired twin boys were definitely the way to go. For months, the cousins met with Cody and Tapeworm and practiced with them at Liberty Park's basketball court until they thought that they were good enough for the upcoming winter season. She was glad that they made the team but she couldn't help but notice the tension as soon as the news was told. If Zack was already that threatened by his brother, then things were going to get worse when he saw them play for the first time.

I hope they can work it out, Crystal thought. She typed back: Just as long as you hold up your end of the bargain, you need to help me with history. Cody was ok, but he would always give me too much information.

Tape: You can't tell me that you didn't enjoy being able to spend all that time with Cody alone?

Crys: Shut up.

Tape: Ok. Ok. :). Later.

Crystal smiled and shoved her phone into her jeans pockets. She opened the toaster door and used a fork to pull the bagels out and stacked them on a large plate. Picking them up with her left hand, she grabbed a pitcher of orange juice with her right and walked back to the dining room. "Hey guys, breakfast's ready!"

At the call, Riley tossed her notebook aside and leapt over the back of the couch, hurrying to her place, as it was marked with a red cup. Crystal moved into her own spot as her cousins and brother took their seats at the table. Everyone started talking at once as they passed around their breakfast.

Hearing a knock at the door, Patrick pushed against the table so that his chair rested on its back two legs. "IT'S OPEN!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. Crystal tilted her head down and gave Patrick a hard stare. "What?" He shrugged innocently.

"If we wake up dead, I'm blaming you," Noah said. Patrick grabbed a biscuit and tossed it at his brother. Noah snatched it out of the air and stuck his tongue out at his brother.

"Whoa!" Zack laughed as he and Cody rounded the corner and appeared in the dining room. "Are you guys having a feast?"

"No, just breakfast!" Sydney replied. He jumped up and grabbed a chair, moving it in between his and Rhuben's. "Zack, Zack, come sit by me!" He beamed at the older blonde as he dropped into the chair, taking an empty plate that Crystal handed to him. Noah went to get another chair for Cody, who hesitantly sat down. "Don't worry, Cody, we have enough food for an army."

"With Patrick's big mouth you don't have a choice," Riley added. Now Patrick stuck his tongue out at her.

"What are you guys doing here, anyway?" Crystal looked at Zack then at Cody. When he looked at her, she quickly turned her head away, the words from Tapeworm's text swirling through her head. "Isn't it kind of early for you? You're usually not conscious until eight at the earliest."

"Max and Tapeworm went boating with their parents and Bailey said that she has some work to do for science class," Zack explained. "Though she's so much of a nerd that it's probably the science homework that's due at the end of the year." He flicked his hair out of his face, picking at his breakfast, resting his chin in his hand. "I bet Cody has his done, too."

Cody lifted his chin. "There's no problem with that."

"There is if you start to give yourself burnout," Sydney commented. "How many more ideas can you come up with? Remember, I'm the genius here." He pointed at himself, giving a proud smile. "I'm actually going to change the world."

"Way to go Syd, knock Cody off his high-horse!" Zack cheered and gave the younger boy a high-five.

Sydney smiled.

"Syd, please don't inflate his ego even more than it is," Riley warned her baby brother.

Crystal handed Cody a plate and filled hers up before starting in on her food. Cody narrowed his eyes at his brother for a moment before it dropped towards the table. He looked up and locked eyes with Crystal. She peered at him over her glass as she lifted it to her mouth, getting ready to take a sip. She recognized that look, it was one of the few identical things that Zack and Cody did. He was up to something. Slowly, he reached a hand up from under the table, taking hold of the biscuit on the edge of his plate. He slowly brought his arm back and threw it at Zack's head. Zack slowly stopped chewing and looked up, his eyes narrowing.

Cody turned his head away, making sure that he covered his smile with his hand. He looked up and Crystal sucked her lips into her mouth to keep from laughing.

Zack, thinking that Noah had thrown it, lobbed one back towards him. Noah paused and, hearing Rhuben's laughter, picked up his cup of orange juice and chucked it into her face. Zack, Cody, Crystal, Patrick, Noah, Sydney, and Rhuben all stood up and started to throw things at each other.

"Why does this seem so familiar?" Riley shook her head before getting pelted in the face with hash browns. It was an all out war after that. It only ended when they had run out of food to throw. It had gotten all over the floor and the table, but, thankfully, the walls managed to get out unscathed, that would make cleaning up that much easier.

"Sorry about the mess," Cody apologized. He kneeled on the kitchen floor, using a sponge to try and get some of the stickier substances off before it got permanently stuck. "Hope we can get everything cleaned up before your Dad gets home."

"Uncle Christian probably sees it coming to be honest," Riley said. She blew her red strand of hair out of her face and went back to sweeping. She looked up as there was a thudding sound from upstairs accompanied by running water. "Don't be surprised if your house starts to flood."

"Ah, Noah can handle em'," Crystal said with a wave of her hand. She used her shoulder to wipe sweat off of her face and continued to scrub the dishes in the soapy water in the sink. "He's the only one out of you all that I trust anyway."

"Gee, thanks," Rhuben said.

Crystal smiled, being able to use her words back against her. "You're welcome."

"You know, this would be a lot more fun if we made a game out of it," Zack said. He was kneeling by the floor, holding onto a dust pan. "Because I love getting hit in the face with dirt, sweet thang." He shot a wink over towards Riley before turning his to the trash can to dump the contents of the pan.

"I figured you would," she replied, her voice dripping with a syrupy sweetness.

Crystal glanced at the two of them over her shoulder, her eyebrows twitching a bit when she saw the look they gave each other. Do they ever not fight? Well, Zack never keeps a grudge and Riley could as if her life depended on it.

"Well, do you guys want to go to the park or something?" Cody moved over to Crystal's side and started to stack up the dry dishes. "We're not doing anything today and we're kinda bored."

"You finally got bored of tormenting Moseby?" Rhuben snorted. "I didn't think that was possible, Codes."

"It's not," Zack agreed. He crossed his arms over his chest, grinning evilly. "I've got so many new ideas; he's going to regret thinking that with our practices that I'll be too tired to prank him." He rubbed his hands together gleefully. "That short break that we gave him should catch him off guard."

"What are you thinking?" Cody's lips curled to match Zack's evil smile.

"Part of it has to do with the air vents, for old time's sake," Zack said.

"Hmm." Cody rubbed his chin, his smile widening. "Will I really risk my asthma in the cramped air vents that'll potentially house spiders, various kinds of molds, dead ends, and hazardous metals that could have rusted over the years just to be able to play a prank on Moseby?" He lowered his arm and grinned. "Of course!" He slapped Zack a high-five.

The three raven haired girls rolled their eyes. "Boys."

Zack rested his chin in his hands, staring at his computer screen. It was almost three in the morning and he couldn't sleep. They had their first basketball game the next day-actually it was a scrimmage to see which starting lineup would be best-and he was nowhere near prepared. A good night's sleep was the best way to perform at your peak physical ability the next day; he knew that from all of the sports that he had played over the years. Yet, he was sitting wide awake, wondering if Cody really was better than him.

He didn't think so, but he never actually seen his brother play over the past couple of weeks. They had been put to work on different parts of the court with different team mates, not allowed to watch each other. The coach probably did that to keep the 'sibling rivalry' at bay or whatever, but Zack really was curious about it.

Hearing a soft snore, Zack turned and watched as Cody rolled over, blankie clutched tightly to his chest. Zack watched him for a minute before he walked over and stood over his brother. Cody continued to sleep soundly. Zack grabbed his blankets and lifted it up Cody's shoulder, covering him the best he could before going back to his computer. He stared at the blank screen for a moment before opening up the search engine.

How to get into shape.

Nothing that would interest him, a bunch of scientific mumbo jumbo about how you actually did lose weight by burning calories. Who cared about that? Who had the time to care? He was already athletic as it was, having lost all of his baby fat and the weight that he had gained while in middle school, shooting to stand at a 5'11". When he and Max had broken up in sophomore year, he had many girls chasing after him and he was out on a date almost every weekend. It was an ego boost and he liked sports enough that he stuck with his normal exercise routine. He just wanted to be sure that he would stay in top position for basketball; the soccer season barely did that if his basketball practices showed him anything.

And this was the varsity level basketball team, if you weren't in shape; you were the weakest link on the team. He wasn't going to run the risk of losing a championship title when they had been so close the year before.

Zack stopped on a forum thread where people gave their ideas of how to lose weight quickly.

Just eat less and work out more.

Cut out sugar and salt. Cut out junk food in general.

Watch what you eat.

Drink more water.

Yeah, right. Like he was going to give up his sweets and soda for a new diet. He tried that once when he was thirteen and that didn't work out well. He and Chef Paolo barely lasted a day on it; going cold turkey nearly killed him. So he got a compromise with Carey just to limit his dessert intake during the week. Eventually he stopped snaking as much, focusing more attention on video games, after school sports, and hanging out with friends.

Shaking his head, Zack turned to a new search, looking through different tabs about how to become better at basketball: Dribble like a madman, do lots of push-ups, work on core strength, increase vertical leap, practice shooting form, work on balance, increase activity on defense, follow a schedule, imagine your opponent.

He did that stuff already, how was that going to help him? Zack rubbed his eyes and started to 'x' out of the tabs so that he could shut down his laptop. Before he closed the last tab, something caught his eye. He looked at it and then back at the top of the tab. How to lose weight.

His eyes dropped to the words again: just stop eating.

At those words, Zack flashed back to the day of the last soccer game. He hadn't eaten dinner that day or breakfast the day after when he, Cody, and the Jacksons had gotten into a food fight. He didn't feel too bad after that. He wasn't starving when he had lunch later that day, in fact, he felt pretty good. Working out the next day, he didn't feel too badly either; in fact, it was one of his better workouts in a while.

Zack closed his computer and climbed into bed.

As soon as his head hit his pillow, he fell fast asleep.

A/N: Ok, so most of this story is going to be in Zack's third person POV, but like this chapter there are going to be times where you see it from another character's POV. That being said, most of the story will focus on the older teenagers, but you'll get a good view of Sydney and Aaron as well. Also, there was a time jump in this chapter in case you didn't catch that. So you saw some CrystalxTapeworm and ZackxSydney friendship here, there will be others as the story goes on.

Cody may have seemed a bit OOC in this chapter, but I feel like as a guy he wouldn't always be a proper gentleman. Woot, woot, the story starts now! It's still a bit weird for me to write without elements but I think I'm doing a good job.

Cheers,

-Riles

PS – There are going to be happy moments as the story goes on as well, it's not always going to be angst driven.