.:Chapter 12:.

Testing, Testing

"Zack, c'mon, get up!" Carey called, knocking on the door to the twins' room. After a few more seconds of knocking, she grabbed the doorknob and pushed it open, stopping short, surprise written all over her face when he spotted Cody sitting on his bed, putting his books in his backpack, Zack's bed empty. Cody turned around and chuckled, seeing his mother's surprise. "I…he…what?"

"Zack went to the gym," Cody explained. "He went earlier this morning to get some weight lifting in." Pulling his backpack over his shoulders, he flicked his hair from his face. "Surprising, huh?"

"I…yeah," Carey said slowly. She blinked and shook her head. "Wow." Who would have thought she'd ever see the day Zack took initiative with something.

She always saw the potential he had and was deeply disappointed when, time after time, he had continued to laze around and watch TV rather than pulling his grades up to the extent she knew he could achieve. Now here he was getting up early and going and actually working out? It took her ages to get him to eat a moderately healthy meal, even changing his diet as much as she could when all he wanted to eat was sweets. Even Chef Paolo managed to slim down after having realized how bad his diet was getting.

"Wow, what?"

Carey turned around and looked Zack up and down as he walked through the front door, running a towel through his hair. He pulled the towel away and blinked innocently at her. Carey brought a hand up to her mouth, tilting her head to the side. Being a mother she would always say her sons were handsome, but there was something different about Zack this time. He prided himself on being the 'good looking twin' but there was something different about the way he was carrying himself as he walked through the suite. He didn't look annoyed, he was bright eyed and bushy tailed—as she used to describe the boys who had jumped on her to wake her up each morning—and had a knowing smirk on his face as if he could read her thoughts. Well, when it came to his looks, he probably could.

"Wow that you're willing to wake up so early," Carey finally found her voice. She removed her hand from her mouth and placed her hands on her hips. "Zack, there's something…different about you, but I can't put my finger on it." Tapping her chin, she waved a hand, walking over to her eldest son and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm reading too much into this, if you're happy, I'm happy." She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the forehead, causing Cody to point and laugh at his twin, whose face grew red. Zack quickly wiped the spot with a closed fist.

"Mom, I thought you said you'd stop doing that," Zack mumbled.

"At this point in life, I think I'm allowed to have more of a say with what I can do with you two than ever before," Carey said, giving him a pointed look. She walked over to the stove and turned off a burner under a pan of sausages. "Speaking of, I'm not going to be around much after school until after the holidays, Mr. Moseby has me taking up a residency until after the holidays." Turning around at the silence, she noticed Zack and Cody giving her identical blank stares.

It used to scare her, sometimes how often they would be able to communicate just by looking at each other, giving her the same look whenever they were confused, having the same mannerisms. Though they were different back than and still had their own lives now, she was pleased to see they still had the same mannerisms and habits they had when they were kids. She had noticed a little rift growing between the two of them as they had grown up, usually from schoolwork, sports, and friends, but they were able to get past it remembering they were brothers and no one was going to get in the way of their special bond. Carey smiled to herself, picking up a spatula and transferring the sausages onto plates along with eggs and toast.

"You already live here, Mom," Zack reminded her. He then snapped his fingers. "Unless you mean Mr. Moseby is giving up the penthouse suite now that London has moved out?" His and Cody's eyes both lit up. "If that's the case, we can be packed in the next ten minutes!" He smacked Cody on the arm. "C'mon, and don't forget the slingshots."

"Right behind you!"

Zack and Cody scrambled out of their seats and were halfway back to their room before Carey's protests reached their ears. She waved them back to the table, laughing as she did so, placing plates on the table in their spots. "No." Pulling out her chair, she sat down in her own seat, placing a napkin in her lap. "Residency means I'm going to be the one who headlines the Christmas shows until the holidays are over."

"Wow, that's great Mom," Cody said with a bright smile. "That could make you really popular. The residencies in Vegas always go over so well, it brings a lot of promotion to the person they've got and Moseby definitely knows he can't get any better than you."

"Thanks sweetie." Now Carey leaned over and gave Cody a kiss on the cheek. Like Zack, he leaned out of the way and rubbed the sides of his face off with the sides of his fist.

Carey looked over at Zack, to see what his reaction was going to be. She half expected to see little dollar signs running through his eyes or to mentally hear the sound of a slot machine going off, letting him know of his winnings, instead he had a notebook in his hands and was quickly scribbling in it, looking disdainfully down at the contents of his plate. Eyebrows rising in surprise, Carey studied her own plate; fluffy scrambled eggs that resembled the sun's golden rays, sausages cooked to perfection at a chocolate brown and giving off the scent of meat as opposed to it being charred, toast buttered perfectly. It made her hungrier just looking at it, used to her own cooking failures time and time again. Cody was even wolfing down his own food, congratulation her in between each bite, but Zack was scribbling away in a notebook. When his blue eyes lifted and met hers, he quickly set the notebook aside and picked up his fork, speaking a sausage and putting it in his mouth. He speed-chewed and smiled and nodded at Carey, silently congratulating her as well. Carey smiled and nodded back, though she still regarded Zack with a bit of suspicion.

"So, like I was saying, you two are going to be on your own after school for a while and-"

"Mom, we're almost eighteen, I think, by now, we can stay in the suite by ourselves," Zack protested through a mouthful of food.

Carey gave him a sharp look which immediately caused him to shrink before her eyes, bringing his shoulders up by his ears. "What I was going to say was as long as you called me when you got here and you promise not to bring in any stray animals, homeless animals, or set the place on fire than I have no problem with letting you guys be here alone as long as you need."

"Geez, you terrorize the guests a few times, Moseby nearly has a heart attack, and you care for a hawk and your mother brands your life," Cody said. Zack snickered. Carey now gave Cody the sharp look. "I'm kidding Mom, you need the practice and this shows you really do trust us. You can count on us to handle this privilege responsibly."

"Exactly," Carey insisted, hoping to drive the point home. "It's a privilege, meaning if you screw up, it's the last time you can do this and I might not let you go away from college." Zack and Cody dropped their forks and gave Carey pointed stares. She now balked under their double looks. "I know, I made it this far and this close to having the house to myself, why would I want to ruin it now?" She laughed and picked up her own fork, digging in. "Keep eating, you don't want to be late for school."

Zack, Cody, and Carey ate their breakfast with a bit of small talk in between. One they were finished, Carey cleared their plates from the table—calling to Zack to remind him he hadn't finished, leaving his plate half full, which he responded he wasn't hungry-and started to wash the dishes as Zack and Cody got ready. Though he had gotten up early that morning to go to the gym, he still lagged behind a bit when it came to actually getting ready. He had to take a shower, wash his hair, brush his teeth, wash his face, put on his clothes, put on deodorant, shave if he needed to, and style his hair. It was styling his hair was what took the longest, even if he left it down, it would take ten minutes for every strand to fall into place. Then he sprayed on some body spray, put his shoes on—hopefully filled his backpack with his books—and was ready to leave. That day, Carey couldn't wait for the twin boys to leave the Tipton hotel. She had the phone juggling between her hands as she watched them move around the suite, gathering their lunch. Most of the time she would have hovered over them, being sure to see what it was they were getting exactly. However, today she missed Zack take less food than usual, sneaking it into his backpack whenever Cody's back was turned.

"Love you," Carey said as the boys headed out the door. "Have a great day."

"We will," Cody promised.

"Love you," Zack called back.

It seemed to be the only thing Zack and Cody hadn't managed to grow out of. They never got embarrassed when a friend was around, even going as far as to remind Carey if she didn't say it first. With a fond smile, Carey shook her head, getting comfortable on the couch. No matter how much they could drive her crazy and how rambunctious and fun they could be, she needed the time to herself sometimes. Lifting the phone, Carey used her thumb to punch in the numbers and held the phone up to her ear as it rang. She wasn't aware she was biting her nails until a metallic taste hit her tongue and her finger stung once it came in contact with her saliva. Lowering her hand, she saw her finger was bleeding at the nail. Clenching her hand into a fist, she ignored the sting and held her breath as the other end was picked up.

"Hey, Kurt Martin speaking."

"Kurt," Carey said, releasing all of her breath as once. "Hi, it's Carey."

"Oh!" Kurt's surprise was palpable, Carey could immediately feel a sense of tension roll through the room. It was thick grip, pressing her on all sides so hard she had trouble breathing. "Hey…um…" he cleared his throat and Carey could practically picture him running his hand through his hair, a nervous habit Zack seemed to have picked up. "So…what's up?"

"Oh not much." Carey winced at the sound of her lamp response. "Actually, I was just telling the boys…I have a residency for the Tipton here through the holidays."

There was a pause and then, "don't you already live there?"

"Kurt!"

"I'm kidding, Carey," Kurt chided. "Geez, you make one joke and those wrinkles already appear on your forehead." Carey reached up a hand, pressing her fingertips to her forehead. Yeah, she had wrinkles, her forehead always seemed to crease whenever Kurt tried to have fun at her expense. "That's great though, the residency and everything. Congratulations."

"Thanks." Carey nodded. She reached down and started to play with the belt on her robe, running the terry cloth through her thin fingers. Catching glimpse of her nails she raised them to her face and grimaced, she need to get a manicure and soon. "Actually, Kurt there was another thing I wanted to talk to you about."

"Yes, while the boys were here we ate nothing but junk food and watched movies," Kurt immediately said. "Not much homework was done while they were here, also."

Carey shook her head. "I figured that much," she admitted. "But I called to ask…well…the time you were stuck here for Christmas when we got snowed in. We did a really god performing together for all of the guests." She paused, waiting for Kurt to say something, but she heard nothing but his steady breathing on the phone. It wasn't fair, he was standing there all calm, cool, and collected and her heart was thudding hard as if she had just come back from running a mile. "Maybe…maybe we should do it again…you perform with me. I'm sure Mr. Moseby wouldn't mind, after the rave reviews we got last time."

She waited, holding her breath in the silence following her last few words. She continued to sit there, waiting for Kurt to say something and as the moments passed, she sat up straight and pushed the phone closer to her mouth. "You know what? Forget it, if you're busy than you can just-"

"It's not that, I was looking at my schedule," Kurt broke in.

Carey snorted. "What schedule? After your band broke up you do nothing but sit in your apartment and eat."

"And wait for the boys to come over," Kurt said honestly. Carey was dumbfounded with the revelation. He really did nothing but sit around and wait for the boys to come over? He was probably exaggerating, but there had to be some sort of truth in there somewhere. She could practically picture him grinning with happiness as he stocked up his pantry and refrigerator with their favorite foods and ice cream, being able to see them only every other weekend. Guilt rocketed through her body and she brought her fingers up to her now throbbing temples. "You know what, Carey? That sounds like a really good idea. You know, if we can get through it not arguing or anything, I think it can be really good. When did you want to start rehearsing?"

"You really want to do this?" Carey asked to make sure. "You know we're going to be working together right?"

Kurt chuckled. "Yeah, I'm sure that was part of the deal," he said. "So when do we start practicing?"

"As soon as possible, I guess," Carey drawled. "When you have the time."

"I have nothing but time, Carey, I'll be over at the Tipton in the next hour or so. I just have some stuff I have to do first, if it's ok. And, of course, I need to mentally prepare myself for the snide remarks and the harsh glares that Moseby-dude sends my way, but what do I know? For all I know, he loves me."

"Then he'd love Zack and Cody too and I'm sure he doesn't." Carey laughed. "I guess I'll see you later then."

"Yeah, I'll see you later."

"Bye, Kurt." Carey hung up the phone and tossed it to the end of the couch. Bringing her knees up, she encircled them with her arms, resting her chin atop her knees. This was going to be the first time in a while they were going to perform together or even work together outside of raising their sons. It was either going to end well or end in disaster. Carey shrugged and got up from the couch, going to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

They would soon find out.

Zack couldn't keep the smile from his face as he walked through the halls towards his locker. Every girl he passed seem to turn his way and then do a double check, smiling warmly at him. Even the guys gave him a nod or a thumbs up as he passed. He was used to having attention for whatever antics he managed to pull off in class, but this was different. All eyes looked him up and down and even a few girls winked and waved as he went.

"Ok, something's going on," Cody said, his eyes shifting back and forth across the hallways as he walked around with Zack.

"Clearly you're not used to having girls actually look at you," Zack replied. He grinned and sped up, seeing Max down the hallway, turned towards her locker, Tapeworm standing at her side, saying something to her. Zack snuck up behind Max and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her up and spinning her around. Max made a sound of surprise before laughing when she noticed it was Zack who had a hold of her. "Hey." Wrapping his arms around Max's waist, he leaned forward to give her a kiss. Still laughing, Max turned her head to the side, allowing Zack to kiss her cheek. He dropped his arms, taking a step back away from her.

Ok, that was weird, she's never done that before. Zack ran his hand through his hair, lifting his eyes to Tapeworm, noticing his eyebrows furrow together. When their eyes locked Tapeworm's face returned to one of content and he nodded at Zack. Zack nodded back. "Hey," Max replied. She gave Zack a hug, an arm across the upper back, then took a step back, looking him up and down. "You look different today."

"Do I? Really?" Zack feigned indifference, feeling all eyes still on him, hearing whispers around him. He had only been on his diet and workout routine for a week and half and he already felt better. He slept better, he was getting faster with his cardio, already able to lift more, his face was a bit slimmer, he lost a bit of fat—which may have just been wishful thinking on his part-and he was already starting to see some definition in his arms. It would take a bit for his stomach to get to the rock hard abs he was hoping to obtain, but he could wait. "I haven't noticed."

"Yeah right," Cody protested. "You were standing in the mirror a half hour longer than usual and it's already bad enough," he added, slapping Tapeworm on the arm.

"Yeah, I mean, what with you having to replace so many these past couple of years," Tapeworm added getting in on the jokes. He, Cody, and Max laughed as Zack rolled his eyes, though the smug smile was still on his face.

"I've just been working out a bit," Zack protested, holding up his hands.

"Zack?" The group turned to see Bailey tugging her hair out of her face. An impressed smile filled her face as she pushed her way up to his side. Looking him up and down, she crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. "You look great! Seriously, have you done something with your hair or what?" She reached out a hand and poked him in the side before squeezing his bicep. "No way! You got muscles bigger than the horses running out in the pasture!"

"I hope that's a good thing," Zack said, a flirty lift to his voice. Max's smile wilted a little, but he missed it as he turned to face Bailey fully. "But yeah, I have been working out a little."

"A little?! You're ripped, Zack!"

"Please, Bailey, don't encourage him." Cody placed a hand on Bailey's shoulder. "You see, if you feed his ego, his head will just keep getting bigger. I'm still wondering when it's going to get to the point where it explodes."

"At least I get compliments," Zack shot back. He reached out and pushed Cody's arm, squeezing his bicep. "You and your water pistols," he added. "Are nothing against my guns." To prove his point, he flexed his muscles. "You better watch out, you don't want to get in the way when they're ready to fire."

"You mean like all of the bullshit coming out of your mouth?" Riley announced her presence with Crystal and Rhuben walking along behind her. She nodded over at Patrick and Noah as they joined their classmates, Sydney totting along behind them, lifting his backpack further up his back as he went. Her lips curled into a smirk as she tilted her head to the side. "Told you you'd surprise people," she said. Zack's smile widened. "Reckon I was right."

"So what's up with the sudden weight lifting?" Crystal made a show of walking around him before lightly cuffing him on the shoulder, then resting her arm on him. She blew her cerulean blue strand of hair out of her eyes. "Now, I'm not saying I don't like it, I'm just wondering."

"Ok, seriously, it's not a big deal," Zack tried to downplay it.

But his ego had swollen so big he couldn't describe it. All of this just because he was trying to get his spot back on a high school sports team. If he knew he was going to be able to get that sort of attention from everyone, he would have at least tried harder with the other sports he did before or at least become aware that at some point Cody was going to become better than him at something sports related, just as he had the potential to be better at something academic related. He never thought it would get to the point where everything he did now was just to get back at his brother. Zack shook the thought from his head. He didn't it want to be like that. He didn't want to be that guy. The one who got jealous over the accomplishments his brother had.

It was like Carey said before, the time Zack had pretended to have dyslexia, she wasn't, and no one else was, going to belittle Cody's achievements to make him feel better. Zack frowned a little.

No, he wasn't…jealous. He was never jealous of Cody. He could be annoyed with him, snarky, sarcastic, and be slightly rude to him, but he was never jealous of him. They were different, that was the point. Twins could be different or they could be similar, hell Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah proved that theory, Riley and Rhuben were similar in personalities and Patrick and Noah were different they all got along fine. From what he could see, anyway. They all seemed to be on entity when they had been growing up, always following each other around. Zack shook his head. He tried his hardest not to think about it or bring it up when the thought popped into his head, it wasn't any of his business. After things got better for them he swept it under the rug and acted like nothing happened, not treating them differently unless he saw they wanted to talk about it in the off chance they ever did.

Strange to think how there was so much they acted like didn't happen when it was probably better to address it when it became a problem. He and Cody barely addressed his being pissed about his younger brother getting the point guard spot but they were better about it now. Right?

He hoped so anyway.

"C'mon Zack, don't act modest, everything with you is a big deal," Max said.

Zack looked at her out of the corner of her eye before turning to face her fully. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was staring directly at him. He stared back at her. He couldn't miss the cruel edge to her tone everyone around the two of them, however, took it a different way.

"Ok, I really didn't need to know that," Rhuben said with a light laugh. She held up her hands. "It answers some questions, but still."

"What's next on the agenda for sex ed?" Riley added sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Don't mention those words around Syd," Crystal reminded her. She laughed, stretching her arms over her head. "He was basically scarred for life the last time." She shook her head, her face an expression of sympathy and an air of motherly concern. "Took him days to be able to look anyone in the eye."

"I don't doubt it," Tapeworm agreed. "I was the same way, especially since Mom sheltered me so much." He cleared his throat. "Are we all on for bowling soon? We haven't had the night in a while and its tradition."

"Just as long as we make sure Zack doesn't go over the top when he wins," Bailey reminded them. They had all been around countless times to witness it. She lowered her gaze to the floor, the corners of her lips twitching down. "I'm still getting the hang of it, but it's hard to do when Zack is over there, barely trying to get a strike."

"Hey, it's not my fault I'm so good," Zack protested, grinning. He finally took his eyes away from his girlfriend who at the moment may had been thinking about dumping him for all he knew, as she had turned back to her locker and was now violently rifling through it.

"Yeah, but it's your fault you're a sore winner, mate," Riley said. She flipped her hair out of her face, her eyes flashing as she pushed herself off of the lockers. "I mean, kicking your ass is already my favorite pastime as it is, but the fact you're a worse winner than you are a loser is bad enough. You just whigne all over the place and it's really pathetic."

"Oh boy," Cody murmured, seeing the challenge flash in Zack's eyes as well.

When they got into boughts of being competitive or arguing over anything, it was never pretty and could last a long time, way longer than it needed to be. He had resorted to forcing them to sit on separate sides of the room once when he, Rhuben, Zack, and Riley had been studying for a history test and they argued over the date something happened. Turns out they were both wrong and as entertaining as it was to watch, there was clearly no end in sight unless they got away from each other. Of course it didn't help matters much when Zack tried to take advantage of the situation and lay a kiss on her that resulted in slap number twenty-five from Cody's calculations.

"What's bad is you bowling stance," Zack countered. "I mean, being able to look at your ass and not be questioned about it is cool, but your backswing could kill someone from that backswing of yours."

"I tried, boofhead," Riley said through gritted teeth, her upper lip curling slightly. "But you moved your big head out of the way."

"Hey, if you did manage to hit me it just means everything that's ever been said about you is true, congratulations."

Riley's eyes narrowed, her hands clenched into fists and her face turned a nasty shade of scarlet. Instead of screaming at him, like he—and he guessed the others thought as they moved their hands to their ears or winced—though, she raised both of her hands, giving him the middle finger on both of them walking backwards. "Fuck you," she spat before hurrying off down the hall.

"Way to go, you really did it this time," Cody said before hurrying after her. Bailey trotted after him, honey blonde hair flying. "Riles, wait up!"

"Eh, she'll get over it," Zack waved a hand after her. He let out a breath through his nose, running a hand through his hair, turning back to Max as she slammed her locker door shut and struggled to get the combination lock on.

"Yeah, and use your head as a dart board next time we go to Quincy Market," Tapeworm added. He leaned towards Max. "I'll save you a seat in homeroom," he said and nodded over to Rhuben and Crystal, giving them a goofy smile. "Ladies." He held out his arms and the two girls slid theirs in his and they disappeared down the hall as well.

Zack waited for Max to speak, but when she didn't, he decided to take matters into his own hands. "So am I correct in assuming you're pretending to slam my head in the door?"

"Oh, right, make another joke, it's all you're good at anyway!" Max snapped, turning around so fast one of her pigtails whipped her in the face. Zack's lips lifted at the corner though he still wasn't completely aware of her anger.

"I thought I was pretty good at kissing and…making you feel good, too," he said, his smile turning into a full blown cocky one. At Max's glare, not even a smile out of her when he knew both were true, he threw his hands into the air. "I don't get it, what's wrong?"

"You're what's wrong Zack," Max replied. She rubbed her temples. "You can't seem to ever understand when not everything is about you." She sneered at him. "Though you seem to be basking in all of the looks you've been getting."

Zack grinned. "You're jealous aren't you?" He held up a hand when Max's scowl deepened. "I'm just saying it's hard to keep other girls from looking when I look this good." He waited a minute then dropped his hand, nudging her arm. "C'mon Max, that always used to make you laugh."

"Yeah, well, a lot of things you used to do made me feel something," Max mumbled, turning her gaze to the floor. With the flat of his hand, Zack reached out and gently pushed Max's chin up so she was looking him in the eye. Then he gently caressed her cheek and brushed some of her lose hair behind her ear.

"What's wrong?" He murmured, taking a step closer to her. "You can tell me, whatever it is." As he studied her, he saw something flash through her eyes. Sadness? Fear? Guilt, maybe? He wasn't sure, but it was gone a second later, replaced by a smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "Maxine?"

"It's nothing," Max finally replied. "I guess…I'm just PMSing or something, I don't know."

"Sounds like it should be something you should be happy about," Zack chuckled. "Considering how much time we've been spending together." He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, yeah…" Max pushed him back then slugged him on the shoulder. "And don't call me Maxine, Zachary."

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot." Zack put his arm around Max's shoulders and the two started to walk down the hall to their homeroom. He tightened his grip on her shoulder but smiled politely whenever a girl would turn his way.

"And about the time we've been spending together, we should probably hold off on our make-out sessions during school," Max added. "The principal said if they caught us again, they'd call my parents and I don't want that."

"Meh." Zack shrugged. "Mom's already going gray and getting wrinkles, what's one more nail in her coffin?" He laughed.

He couldn't help but notice Max didn't join in with his laughter.

A/N: I'm bringing the other plot of the story (apart from Zack and Max) into the story with the next chapter because I felt that there needs to be something else going on. Plus, the idea will help some other things move along because I think it's been dragging a little.

Also, I was thinking of having this story change to it mostly being from Zack's and Riley's POV so we can see more with her family, Crystal, Christian, and Aaron as well as having small POVs from other characters. It'd probably help with more character development too, though I find it a bit difficult because at this point, since we (Rhuben, Crystal, and I) started our characters in the series when they were early teens, they should be (technically by that standard) developed by now. Just a thought.

I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles