Chapter 49

Again, I don't own any of these characters

On Sunday morning, Cody and Bailey were picked up at the resort and driven back to the airport. Again, they went through security and waited in the terminal with their carry-on bags. Since they had close to hour until their plane was to board, they grabbed a quick breakfast in the terminal. As tempting as the Cinnabon was, they both resisted the urge and found something a little more healthier. Finally, their flight was called and both settled into their seats, both happy that they had gotten in and out Arizona with no major problems. For the next two hours, they sat there, holding hands, talking about their upcoming week in Kettlecorn and what they had to do when they returned to New Haven.

The plane landed in Kansas City, and they made their way to the baggage claim to get their bags. After they did, they turned around and were surprised by what they saw. Joe himself was there to pick them up. He hugged his daughter and shook his future son-in-law's hand. He lead them back out to his king cab and loaded their bags into the back seat along side of Cody. Bailey took the passenger's seat next to her dad.

"So, did you two have fun this past week?"

Bailey smiled. "We did. It was very educational..."

Joe nodded. "So...How was Phoenix?"

Bailey answered without thinking. "It was..." She paused. "Wait a minute. How did you know we were in Phoenix? We never told anyone where we were going..."

Joe laughed. "Oh, its not much of a secret anymore...I was listening to sports talk radio this morning, and ESPN had a news flash were NBA star Steve Nash gave an interview about how he had been saved from choking by a Cody Martin..."

"Oh..."

"At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but when he said it was the same person who had accidentally injured Kurt Warner, I knew it was one in the same..."

Bailey turned back to look at Cody, and he just shrugged. Bailey turned back to her dad. "Well, Daddy...we were in Phoenix and Cody did give him the Heimlich Maneuver..."

Joe laughed. "Well, Cody, from the calls in to the show, it looks like Arizona fans don't want your death any longer..." He paused. "Why not tell anyone though? I admit Phoenix doesn't sound like the most ideal place for a spring break..."

Bailey began to hem and haw. "Well, you see..."

Cody spoke up. "We weren't in Phoenix for a typical spring break...We were there to tape the Jeopardy College Team Tournament..."

Joe turned to look at his daughter. "You what?"

Bailey nodded. "Its true, Daddy. We applied for it and found out when we got home after Christmas that we had been accepted for it..."

Joe just sat there stunned. "Wow..."

Bailey smiled at him. "Every since I was a little girl and we used to watch it together, I wanted to be on the show..."

Joe smiled. "Well, I guess you are going to be now. Well, do I have to ask or are you going to tell me how you did?"

Bailey sighed. "I wish we could, Daddy, but we can't. We had to sign confidentiality agreements that we wouldn't disclose the results to anyone..."

"Really? They made you do that?"

Cody nodded. "Yeah. I guess they are very big on keeping what happened a secret..."

Joe nodded. "So, when do you air?"

Bailey shrugged. "They said they would let us know..."

"You just make sure you two tell me once you find out..."

"We will..." Bailey paused. "So, did Porkers behave himself last week?"

Joe laughed. "Yeah, he pretty much lounged around all week. Though, there were several days when he almost seemed offended when we wouldn't let him come inside. I think you two have really domesticated him and made him a house pig..."

Cody and Bailey exchange glances with each other. If only Joe knew just how much of a house pig Porkers was now.

When they finally arrived back in Kettlecorn, they both pitched in and helped Joe take care of the farm chores. Bailey mainly tended to the animals. Cody actually helped out with some of the back breaking labor. Joe could only laugh to himself. The scrawny young man he had first met would never have made it an hour, but the man in front of him now could more than hold his own. If Joe didn't already know what he was planning for the future, he thought he could make a decent farmer out of him.

That night, after dinner, everyone just sat around and talked. Joe had agreed to keep where Cody and Bailey had been a secret as he realized they would just get bombarded with questions about what had happened. So, he helped shift the conversations and allowed them to just talk about what all they had been up to since Christmas. Cody and Bailey told them all about the summer jobs they had gotten in New Haven, and then told them about their plan to spend the summer studying for the GRE and MCAT before taking them next fall. Of course, Cody and Bailey reminded themselves that they needed to register for those exams when they got home.

The rest of the week there was more like work than a vacation as they both spent a good part of each day helping out on the farm. Friday was their last scheduled day in Kettlecorn as they wanted to have all day Sunday to prepare for returning back to classes the following Monday. They only had five weeks of classes left when they returned, and a lot of things were going to happen in that time. For Bailey in particular, she had some thinking to do. The weekend after they got back, she and Cassie had planned a birthday party for Zack and Cody in Hartford. Of course, that meant she had to think of a birthday present for him. She knew Cody would love whatever she got him, but she really wanted to get him something he would like. For part of her gift, she already had a good idea. But she was drawing a blank as to the other part.

On Saturday morning, Joe and Maggie drove Cody, Bailey and Porkers back to Kansas City and dropped them off at the airport. Everyone hugged each other goodbye, and Bailey promised they would try to get back to Kettlecorn over the summer if they could. She turned to her Dad and winked as she told them that she and Cody would keep them informed about anything else that was going on.

A few hours later, Cody, Bailey and Porkers were arriving back at JFK. The gathered their bags and went outside to look for the Yale Shuttle. Finally, it pulled up, and they sat back again and tried to relax as they knew they were finally on their way back home. When they did, Cody and Bailey could finally talk to each other about their experience in Phoenix without fear that anyone could overhear them. They spent the rest of Saturday doing their laundry from their trip and generally just relaxing and taking it easy. Cody was a little sore from all the farm work, but Bailey was more than happy to rub his shoulders for him.

Early Sunday morning, after being gone for two weeks, meant another trip to the grocery store. This time, however, they could take their time and only got what they needed for the next week. Returning home, they proceeded to do their homework for the next day. Once finished with that, Cody and Bailey went on to their laptops, and both registered and signed up respectively for the MCAT and GRE. It was then that they learned of one of the biggest scams they could ever have imagined.

It seems both medical school and veterinary schools have a reporting agency. You have to pay to send your test scores to these agencies. You also have to get your official transcript from your university and sent it to them as well. Every time your transcript changed, you have to send them an updated official transcript. These agencies in turn charged you to forward your test scores and transcripts to the grad schools that you chose. Cody only huffed and called them nothing more than glorified middlemen. Bailey called them something much worse than that.

The next morning, they returned back to class. It was probably good they had spent their spring breaks keeping their minds sharp as several of their fellow classmates looked like they were in actual pain being back in school. Of course, they could have also been from the bad sunburns they had from passing out drunk on the beach. Either way, their Organic Chem test grades were done by then, and both had done very well. Both were happy that they got back eased into classes on one of their short days.

Tuesday was much of the same as it was now their Genetics tests being returned. Again, both did very well. They continued on with the rest of their classes and their first lab in almost two weeks. The rest of the week went by pretty much the same as they stuck to the normal routines.

The only real difference was that on Wednesday afternoon, Bailey told Cody she needed to run a few errands. Cody offered to go with her, but she just smiled and told him that he probably didn't want to go sit while she was getting her birth control shot. Cody just nodded at that. Normally, Bailey would welcome him coming with her as Cody was one of those guys who wasn't embarrassed to go out and buy her feminine hygiene products. But this time, she had to do some birthday shopping after her getting her shot.

Bailey walked around the local mall trying to find anything that would give her inspiration as what to get Cody, but she still wasn't coming up with anything. She was about to give up hope when she finally saw something that gave her a great idea. She couldn't get what she was looking for in the mall, but a few calls later, she knew where to go to get what she hoped Cody would think was the perfect gift.

To be Continued...

Author's Note: You really didn't think I'd say how they did so soon, did you? Guess everyone will have to see how they did when the episodes actually air. Okay, okay. Their first match airs in Chapter 57. Speaking of future chapters, as of writing this note, I am done through Chapter 70. To make things easier, I'm thinking of breaking The College Years up into two parts. I just haven't come up with a good name for the second part yet. I've thought about The College Years Part Deux...The College Years, the Search for More Money (Spaceballs reference)...The College Years 2½ (Naked Gun reference)...The College Years II, the Wrath of Khan (Star Trek reference)...The College Years – The Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars reference). I'm open for other ideas though.