.:Chapter 06:.

The Food Journal…

Zack frowned, resting his hand over his mouth as he gazed at the notebook in front of him.

He tapped his pen against the paper with his right hand before letting out a sigh, gazing around the room. It was one of the only study halls that he had, and, unfortunately, the only one without his friends. It also didn't help that it was the only one that was consistently quiet as the teacher, Miss. Emma Tutweiller, wanted peace and quiet to read the romance novels that she thought she was hiding behind her teaching magazine. All of the students knew that she was lonely for romance, it didn't help that she was constantly going on about her mother wondering when she was going to find a boyfriend, telling stories about the many cats that she owned, or would get irrationally angry at the exes that she tried to forget about.

Even now she was sitting behind her desk, legs crossed at the ankles, propped up on a stack of books that teetered precariously over the edge. Her face was twisted in an expression that showed how engrossed she was in the pirate and his prisoner…if that was the story that she was reading this time.

If only I was able to switch out when I had the chance, Zack thought. All of his friends had a free period and were able to do whatever they wanted, whether it was go off campus to get lunch, or hang out in the stairwell that they had commandeered since freshmen year. Zack knew that it was mostly his fault, having slacked off for most of freshmen and sophomore year had done nothing to help his grades, thus adding the extra study halls junior year to keep them up. Care had immediately signed off on it, much to Zack's protests, but deep down he knew that it was a good idea, having to keep at least a C average to stay on any of the sports teams. His teachers even went so far as to meet up with him once a month to make sure that his grades were still consistent.

He resented the attention, while Cody just skated by as if nothing ever fazed him. And now he took my spot on the team. Zack shook his head bitterly. It was bad enough that it was reality, but having to go back to the suite the night it was announced and listen to his Mom go on and on about how she was proud of Cody for proving everyone wrong and showing that there was more than meets the eye, was enough to make him sick. Zack pushed down the sick, guilty feeling that went through him as it always did whenever he had a mean thought about his brother. He really was proud of Cody but…couldn't he have taken another position? It didn't help that Cody was trying to make Zack feel better with sympathetic smiles and tentative starts to conversations. If they just acted like things were normal, then he would feel better.

Zack hunched over and looked at his notebook once more, forcing himself not to look at the clock. Time always seemed to go by so slowly whenever he was in a rush to get somewhere. And he would rather take a math class than have to sit there and wonder what everyone else was doing and what he was possibly missing. Written at the top of his notebook in his scrawled handwriting said:

Diet and Work-Out Routine.

If he was going to be a power forward, he was going to have to bulk up a bit more. Considering that he wasn't as chubby as he was when he was a kid, he wasn't considered flabby, his flat stomach attested to that and lots of girls flirted with him about it, though they backed off when he started to date Max. He wasn't delusional to say the least; he knew he was going to have to work hard.

So far he had a lot of weight lifting exercises written down and what times of day to do it, as well as making a schedule around his school work and his mother was pressuring for him to get a part-time job somewhere. Cody, of course, had no problems finding one. He was working with Christian on whatever project he had come up with at that point, it was supposed to be like an internship, at first, but as Cody continued to stay around the Manning household he started to pay him for it.

Though I doubt that he goes so often for the job, Zack thought to himself with a smirk. It was always kind of funny to him, to know that he was the ladies man, but Cody was the one with more girlfriends. He had gone out with Rhuben, then Crystal, then Barbara Brownstein while Zack had only dated Max, as she was the only one that he really cared about to be in a relationship with. Well, that's not exactly true. His other option, Riley, barely gave him the time of day and he wondered if she even liked having him around sometimes. But then there was Maddie, whom he had a crush on ever since he moved into the Tipton hotel. Now that she was in college at UMass, he didn't see her around as much, but whenever the blonde came into the Tipton hotel it was like nothing had changed and his schoolboy crush would start all over again. He knew that nothing was going to come out of it, but the bright smile she gave him whenever she saw him still managed to give him butterflies. Max had never been particularly jealous of it, and even thought that it was cute at times.

Zack had always been surrounded by girls, even when he was three, four, and five, he had woman flocking over to say how cute he was (he was outgoing enough back then that he didn't hide behind his mother's leg like Cody did) and was constantly sent to the principal's office for chasing girls around the playground to kiss them. Cooties had never been a problem for him. It was funny to see how, growing up, he, Tapeworm, and Cody had been surrounded by girls, Max, Crystal, Riley, and Rhuben and how they had split off to who they ended up liking. They were all beautiful in their own way, Zack could be shallow at times, but was conscious enough to realize it, and had their own distinct personalities, still it confused him to no end that he ended up falling for Riley, while Rhuben and Crystal looked exactly the same to her (as their mothers were twins) and he felt nothing romantic towards them at all. He had flirted with them a few times, but it was obvious that it was different than the way he flirted towards Max, Maddie, or Riley. Cody said that it was because his and Riley's personalities were so similar, but Zack didn't by that. Cody, Crystal, and Rhuben didn't have personalities that were similar (though some of their interests were) and he still managed to date the two of them. Zack realized that he still didn't know why he had broken up with them, not that it particularly surprised him now. He hadn't told Zack about trying out for basketball until the day before.

They were twins but there were still some things they had to keep a secret.

Zack shook his head again. Focus! You need to get this done! He yawned loudly, rubbing his eyes. Staying up late last night really did nothing to help. He looked over the work-out routine once more, the weight lifting was fine, and he even scheduled when was the best time to take easy days as well as days off when it came to game days. He knew he should put in cardio, but if it wasn't skateboarding or snowboarding, he wasn't particularly interested in running or using the elliptical at the gym. He made a note to ask Max about it, knowing that she was set in her own routine. Plus, knowing that they were going to be busy with practices, they weren't going to be spending a lot of time together in the upcoming months. He reminded himself to start thinking of a Christmas gift for her as well.

Zack turned the page over and stared at the blank page for a moment before writing something else. When he finished, he bit his lip, looking at the list:

Things I've eaten today:

Breakfast

-Banana

-Cereal

-Milk

-Orange Juice

-Water

Snack

-Chocolate Bar

-Gushers

Something had to get him through science class; when he wasn't already rolling his eyes at Cody, Tapeworm, and Bailey answering every question, trying to get Crystal or Rhuben to let him copy their intricate notes, and share confusion with what was going on with Max and Riley. Even making paper airplanes, cracking jokes, and throwing balled up pieces of paper at his brother wasn't keeping him as entertained as usual.

And when he was bored, he had a tendency to eat.

Zack wrote down what he was supposed to have for lunch that day: Turkey sandwich, milk, apple, cookies, carrots, opting to have his mother's food as that was something a bit healthier than the cafeteria. Then under all of that wrote: cut back on meals knowing that dinner wasn't going to be a problem if his mother was cooking again. Cody's chore of making dinner started to fall by the wayside as he got engrossed in more activities to put on his college applications, something Zack hadn't even started to think about.

The bell rang and along with the rest of his class, Zack gathered his things together, shoving it all into his backpack. He felt better now that he had everything worked out to get back on top. Now he needed to go find his brother and try to apologize about the way that he had been acting lately.

Try being the key word…

A/N: Sorry, chapters will be longer with the next , interesting how there was no dialogue in this at all, just his thoughts. I hadn't noticed it until I finished. Still haven't decided if it'll end up as a CodyxRhuben or a CodyxCrystal so there'll be a bunch of moments between those pairings until I decide. Is the pacing of the story OK or do you want it to be faster? Also, would you like to see more romance?

Cheers,

-Riles

PS - I'm really leaning towards re-doing the Home series (which'll probably all be under one story as they were so short) because I keep mentioning things that happened in the past to show how they've grown up, and there's really no way to go back and see it. If I do it, it'll take a while to be put up, probably after this and Downfall.