.:Chapter 13:.

The Second Journal Entry

November 23

So Thanksgiving is in a couple of days and our school is weird when it comes to getting a break. I mean, we only just got out today (Wednesday), Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and we have the first half of next week off as well. That should actually b pretty cool because we can spend more time with Mom and Dad. Yeah, they actually agreed to have Thanksgiving together this year when Cody and I were used to having Thanksgiving dinner early with Dad and his band mates and roadies. Then later that night, Cody and I would go back to the Tipton and have Thanksgiving with anyone that was there. Esteban would usually come by, Muriel liked the free food, if London was back from where she went jet setting she would be there, and then would always have Mr. Moseby as he always spent his holidays running the Tipton. It was one of the few times of the year we get along with Mr. Moseby….openly anyway. He was fun to make fun of, but no one deserved to be by themselves during the holidays. Actually, that's what Max and I kind of fought about.

We had gone on a date, the last day before she was leaving to see some of her family for Thanksgiving and it was going really well at first. We did what we normally did; went to see a movie (I don't remember how it ended ;)), then I took her to go bowling (which I won), then we went back to the suite to talk to for a while. And I mean we actually talked about some of the things that were bothering us. Did it help? I'm not sure. Max was saying how she didn't like that I would flirt with other girls, which I can't help, I'm just being polite, trying to make them feel better about themselves. Mom had really put that into my head after everything that happened with Agnes. Of course Cody didn't have to worry much about it, he felt terrible when they had told Agnes that she was bothering them, and while she had toned down her obsession, she was still around Cody, looking at him funny before she transferred schools. (You wouldn't believe how glad we were when she transferred, as mean as that may be. But you wait until you have a girl following you and your brother around for ages, staring at you all day). Still, I went from trying to flirt with other girls to making them feel better, I would say hi and flirt a little, I like the attention a bit, but I'm a one woman guy and Max is it for me. Is she the one? I don't think so, I think I'm too young for that sort of thing. Or maybe I don't really believe in it.

Wow, one life crisis too many.

Ok, anyway, I don't think that was the problem. I've always been told that I was a flirt but I can't change that completely. I've toned it down a lot, I'm nothing like my Dad can be. Seriously, you should see him, if you thought I'm bad, well….I didn't really bring up the things about her that bothered my while we were talking, that can be controlling and make me feel dumb and that everything I do is wrong. Or that she's secretly waiting for me to cheat. I was smart enough to know not to do that. Or maybe I was scared to. Anyway, after talking I offered to buy her dinner at the Tipton hotel…and realized that it was probably one of the worst decisions that I had made. I mean, Max looked pretty and she seemed excited to be able to eat at the Tipton hotel again (maybe to replace the bad date we had there before?) and I was excited for her. However, I knew how the food was made; with a lot of salt and butter, and knew that it would throw off my diet. So I ordered the smallest meal I knew came on the menu while Max ordered…whatever. Our conversation got lighter as we waited for our food and when it arrived I pushed all of the extra stuff off of my burger and tried to take off as much salt from the fries as I could. Then I took my fork and knife and cut up my burger, knowing it was better to chew smaller portions as much as you could before swallowing.

Yes, Cody's chew every bite at least thirty times came back to haunt me.

We had been eating for about fifteen minutes, where I pushed a lot of my food around, eating as slowly as possible, when Max noticed.

Her eyes lowered in what I guess was concern, but it actually annoyed me. "Aren't you, hungry?"

"Yeah," I replied, dropping my hands to my lap, chewing on a bite of my hamburger. I shrugged, dropping my glance to my plate. I had a little bit more than half of my burger left and most of my fries. My milkshake mostly went untouched either. "I'm just pacing myself." For added affect, I placed a hand on my stomach. "My stomach kind of hurts, actually. Maybe I caught something from someone at school."

"That sucks," Max sympathized. She reached out a hand and placed it on my forehead. I smiled and pulled back a little, tilting my head and kissed the palm of her hand. Max laughed and pulled her hand away. Her gaze dropped. "I hope you're not sick over break, I want to hear another story of those massive feasts that you guys have."

I smiled. "They're not massive when you have Dad's band mates eating everything. They can eat more than me and Cody combined and that's saying something." I flicked my head, pushing my hair out of my face. Max laughed and went back to her own food, her plate was almost empty. "So is your family and Tapeworm's going together or-"

"What?" Max jumped, her knee bashed into the table and knocked over my milkshake onto my lap. I sucked in a sharp breath of air and backed up quickly, knocking my chair to the ground. Patrick the waiter that always had something to say about whomever I brought to the Tipton hotel, only just managed to jump out of the way of my falling chair, crashing into a nearby table, stomach first. The good thing was that was the table that he was giving the food too.

I couldn't help it, my balls were freezing, but I was laughing hysterically. Max looked upset and that just made me laugh even harder. It was just some ice cream on my pants, who cared? I tried to make her feel better, but she shut down after that, accompanying me back to the suite where I took off my pants so I could put them in the wash. I mean, seriously, I was in my boxers and she didn't try anything when it usually wouldn't stop her. But she just looked at me with a weird expression on her face and said that she had to go. No goodnight kiss, no nothing. Now I was sure that something was wrong, but I didn't know how to bring it out of her. To be honest, I'm not great with confrontation. I don't like to hear the truth, though I know that there are times when it's the best thing to hear.

But I would still prefer to lie if it helped a situation. I couldn't lie about this anymore. Something was off between me and Max, something was really bothering her and…she didn't want to tell me. If that wasn't frustrating enough…I don't know why girls always seem to be a problem for me, maybe because I'm friends with more girls than guys, but at least I have one less girl problem now. Not Max, I mean Riley. Yeah, I felt a little bad about saying that every bad thing that had been said about her was true. I was out of line, but I was joking, she knew I was joking, I knew I was joking, so I didn't get what the big deal was. Actually, I didn't get what the big deal was about me buying Dad's guitar for her. I thought I was being nice, that I was being a good friend, but no, I got bitched out for that too. I was completely gob smacked with that, she could run hot and cold sometimes, but I was stumped.

What stumped me even further was when she came by the Tipton hotel, the day before she and her siblings left to go back to Australia, to apologize. One thing you need to know about Riley is that she does not apologize if she thinks she doesn't have to. And when she does, most times there's still a hint of begrudging in her voice. (Usually that happens when I try to milk her apology for all it's worth). Anyway, Cody and I were sitting in our room trying to figure out which video game we wanted to play and what else to ask for Christmas, when Mom had knocked on the door (she had gotten good with that) before opening it and poking her head in.

"Hey Mom," Cody said. "What's up?"

"Wait, before you say anything, did school call?" I held my hands up defensively. "'Cause if Tutweiller is calling, she has nothing against me. All of her study halls consist of her reading romance novels." I grinned at Mom. "You know, kind of like the ones that you usually have by your bed." Mom's face turned red and when she gave me a stern look, I kept going. "So, whatever she said, it isn't true."

"Actually, Riley's here to see you," Mom said, giving me a firm look.

Shrugging, I turned back to the video game in my hands. "When is she not here to see Cody?"

"No, Zack, she's here to see you," Mom said.

I looked up at her again, to see if she was kidding. Her face was still as serious as ever. Yep, at that moment, I tried to figure out what I was going to put in my will. Unlike me, Riley has no problem with confrontation. The moment she feels something is exactly when she was going to put it out there. Through from the times that she had gotten detention from 'verbally abusing' someone, it was probably how I managed to live after I made fun of her at school. It was probably good that Mom was around too, or else there would be a murder in the suite. I dropped the video game and walked slid off of my bed, slowing walking out of my room. I glanced over my shoulder as Mom started to close the door behind me. She left it open a crack, of course, Mom liked to know what was going on in our lives and Cody and I were eavesdroppers so it was no surprise to me.

Riley turned from the pictures on the wall and looked over at me. I studied her face carefully, waiting to see any sense of anger or frustration, instead, she was calm. "So I'm guessing you're surprised to see me," she said, keeping her hands in the pockets of her jean jacket.

"Sort of," I replied, honestly. Then I smiled. "But I know you can't resist me, Sweet Thang, it was only just a matter of time." Riley laughed, rolling her eyes as she did so. I brought my lower lip into my mouth. "Listen, I'm sorry for what I said to you at school," I said quickly, beating her to it. "I know that that's one of your biggest insecurities, what other people think of you." I watched as Riley's gaze lowered to her feet and she grimaced. Apart from her family, I was probably the only one that knew that. When we were younger, during a game of truth or dare, I asked her biggest fear and she refused to answer. Then she pulled me aside later and told me that she was afraid of what people thought of her, especially being in the public eye and having to deal with being a role model to younger kids. She was afraid that she would live up to the rumors that had been said about her. And I went ahead and said the exact same thing she didn't want to hear. "I was just joking…I thought you knew that." My eyes shifted behind her. "You didn't bring Patrick did you?"

"No," Riley said. She turned back around and gave a half smile. "But I had to force him to stay home after he heard what you said. So if anyone's going to kill you, it'll be him, not me. If Noah doesn't sneak attack your first." She bobbed her head. "Or if Syd doesn't find a way to poison you." She then held up a hand. "Personally I think Rhu and Crys would get to your first and that'd be your biggest problem, otherwise, it's not a big deal."

My eyebrows rose. I didn't expect that, that it wasn't a big deal.

"No worries." She licked her lips. "Anyway…I should be the one that apologizes to you," she said.

That made my eyebrows inch up even further. I must have looked comical. "Why?" I motioned back and forth between myself and her. "I mean, you and I always talk like this to each other. I flirt with you, you shoot me down, we laugh about it and start the cycle all over again. Granted I'm usually not stupid enough to get so personal, but that's how we usually work."

"I know." Riley briefly closed her eyes, as if something pained her. "But that's not what I meant, I meant about the guitar. I wanted to apologize about everything with the guitar. I was…I guess, kind of confused to why you would want to get me a guitar with nothing in return for you, be it a date or whatever." She brought a hand up and scratched her forehead. "Which, frankly, made me mad because I don't want to make that mistake again."

"What mistake?"

Riley shook her head. "And when you just wanted to give it to me as a friend-"

"You said that you didn't like to perform or sing anymore, I could tell that you didn't mean it," I interrupted. It was true, I spent a lot of time watching her and had known her long enough to know when she was lying or hiding the truth about something. So when Cody and I were asking her about performing, I could tell by the way that she didn't look either of us in the eye when she was explaining her confused feelings that she did miss it. So I figured that when she asked about the guitar I would just get it for her. I mean, it's possible she could have been wanting it for a Christmas gift for someone, but I think it would be a better gift for her. So I bought it. "I just thought I was doing something nice."

"And you were," Riley insisted. I shifted my feet, a little uncomfortable. I had never really known her to be so vulnerable about things, though she had her moments, especially when her brothers, sister, and cousins were concerned. "I dunno, I mucked up. I guess I'm still not really used to it. I'm used to you flirting every second of every day so that each time you do something without wanting something in return, it really freaks me out."

"Thank you?" I wasn't offended, I knew what she meant. I guess Max was feeling that way too, without relationship. That I was being nice and she thought it was odd that I didn't expect anything in return.

"Yeah." Riley nodded and started to rub her arm. She placed her hands on her hips and let out a breath of air. "So…I'm sorry." Her face momentarily screwed up, resembling that if she had just sucked on a lemon. "Really. I mucked up and took it out on you."

"That's ok." I shrugged and then grinned at her again. "And if you've forgotten, I did offer a trade. You could give me guitar lessons and I could help you with something. If that'd make you feel better, then we can go with that."

Riley's lips curled into a smirk and she looked interested. Placing her hands on her hips, she looked up towards the ceiling as she thought. I watched and waited for her to come up with something. I had no idea what it would be, she could have told me she wanted me to stay away from her for a week, or to actually clean out my closet, or to pay for whatever it was she wanted.

"Anything you want," I prompted. "I mean, if you hate being around me enough-"

Riley held up her hand. "I told you I don't hate you, sometimes I dislike you, but I don't hate you. There's a difference." She pulled a hand through her hair. "In all honestly, since I don't say this a lot, I like having you around. I think…you're one of the people I'm closer to, though I'm always denying it."

Ha! I knew it! I knew she never hated me. I just wanted to hear her actually say it. Of course I had to gloat about it a little. (I don't know why she suddenly said that, she usually would have denied it to her grave. There must be something wrong if she's bringing it up now. I mean it. This is a note to myself to ask around to see if something is going on with her. It's that weird. Especially because she volunteered the information rather than having it dragged out of her. So, yeah, note to self). I gave her my most charming smile and crossed the room so that I was standing in front of her. I had to angle my head to look down at her—thank you for finally growing past five feet—and she rolled her eyes again. "It was only a matter of time until you gave in to your feelings, Sweet Thang."

Riley reached out and smacked me on the arm. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that."

"I've got about five years to get over it, cut me some slack," I protested.

Riley laughed again. I liked that I was able to make her laugh. All of the seriousness in her resting expression went away, her nose wrinkled, and she looked carefree. The way she probably would have if she hadn't gone through so much pain when she was younger. Maybe now was a good time to bring it up…that was the problem, there never seemed to be a good time. I wanted to be able to get to the point that she was genuinely happy to see me, like she was with Cody. I would openly admit that if I had the chance. Like Cody sometimes got jealous of me playing basketball with Crystal (before he got on the team anyway).

"Ok, so what do you want, Riles?"

Riley then gave me a surprised look, her laughter fading. She brushed some of her raven hair behind her ear, her red strand still hanging in her face. "That's the first time you've seriously called me by my name since you met me."

"I'm trying!" I threw my hands into the air. "And now you're changing the subject. I could get an easier answer out of Cody and he's the most indecisive smart person ever. I mean, he needs to know everything before he'll make a decision." I grabbed onto her shoulders and started to shake her "Please, just pick something!"

Riley's eyes slammed shut and she ducked her head away. I immediately let go. It took her a second, then she took a deep breath and turned back to me, her eyes flashing. "I'll give you guitar lessons if you help me with my swimming."

I took a step back, looking her up and down suspicious. This had to be some sort of a trick. "You do realize that you're giving me free reign over being able to see you in a bathing suit, right?"

"I'm willing to take that risk," Riley said calmly. She slid her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, tilting her head to the side. "There's no risk without reward, right?" What the hell was that supposed to mean? "But it also means that you have to get up early, along with the practices for school, I like to practice in the mornings, but no one likes to get up early and time me."

"Ok." I shrugged. "Shouldn't be a problem."

"Cool." Riley held out her hand and I took it, reveling in the softness of it as we shook hands. "It's a deal. Just let me know when you want to have lessons or whatever when we get back." She started to turn away. "Thanks for being so understanding…most people would have written me off."

"I'm not most people," I replied.

Riley smiled. "You're right," she agreed and left.

She and her brothers and sister had left for the airport the next day, bright and early to go to Australia. Crystal, Aaron, and Christian had left later that afternoon to go to Canada to celebrate their Thanksgiving. Max went to Chicago to visit her relatives and Tapeworm had gone to New York. So it was only me, Cody, and Bailey who were left in Boston for the holidays. We had already made plans to hang out with Bailey on Black Friday so she can see what we do out here in the city when the prices for electronic goods went down. For whatever reason she's really fascinated by the idea of it. It would be cool to see her get into a fight with some other chick over lingerie or something. (Can you blame me?)

Anyway, Cody's bugging me about going out to get some basketball practice in. We have two games the first full week we get back to school, it'll be my first game playing as the power forward and I need to be sure that I do a good job. So…there goes that good that'll weigh me down at dinner. Hopefully things will be busy enough so no one notices. It was bad enough that Max asked me about it, I don't want Mom to get on my case too. Then she'll lecture me about eating right and being healthy again.

I guess I could probably just sick her on Dad if that happened.

He's the one that needs to learn that Mom always knows what we eat at his place.

Ha ha.

Now I'm off to cram that basketball down Cody's throat.

Huh.

That's kind of ironic.

Some things to remember: chew bites of food longer, drink more water, eat less, have smaller portions, work hard. Puking shows how hard you're working.

Weight loss to date: seven pounds.

-Zack

A/N: I'm going to start changing POVs a bit with the next chapter because some other things need to be revealed. And I really need to show more of other characters though I'm trying my best to balance them all around Zack. I hope you guys liked this chapter.

I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles