Chapter 3

I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did.

Wait...In this story, I actually created some of them, so I do own them.

Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves.

And as for the ones I did create, who they are is up to me, so...

Austin, Texas

At the University of Texas, Zack and Cody both got themselves acclimated very quickly. The campers in both the math and basketball camps were assigned to different dorms next to each other where both would be sharing a dorm suite with three other guys. For Cody, he got along from the very beginning with his suite mates as they all began making bad math puns from the very beginning. His three roommates could easily be called nerds, but they were all nice guys. Of course, hearing that Cody had at one point had a girlfriend elevated him in their eyes, and they looked at him as their unofficial leader based on that. Plus, it didn't hurt that his calculator was the top of the line model and better than theirs.

In the dorm next door, Zack too was getting along with his roommates. All of them were soon to be sophomores like Zack who were looking to move from their freshman teams to the varsity teams and, in the process, bypass the junior varsity teams. And they all liked to have fun too and were pranksters. Zack had a good feeling that the next three weeks were going to be a blast. And his first day on campus, his roommates and him snuck over to the dorm holding the girls from the cheerleading camp to meet some babes. After calling dibs on who got who, Zack strolled over to the one he had targeted and smiled at her.

"Hey, Sweet Thang..."

The girl smiled back at him. "Hey yourself..."

"I'm Zack...but you can call me the guy you've been waiting for your whole life."

She giggled. "I'm Marcy. Nice to meet you, Zack."

He kept grinning. "I'm here with the basketball camp, but I was wondering if you would like to join me for dinner later on in the dining hall?"

"Yeah...I'd like that. Sounds like fun. What time?"

Zack paused. "Well, we have to some stupid hall/team meeting at 6:30, but we should be done within an hour. How does 7:30 sound?"

"Sounds good to me. See you then..."

Later that evening, Cody and his roommates had just left their hall meeting where they had been issued their brand new compasses and protractors for the camp. They were all excited talking about them as they headed over for the dining hall. The other three guys got in line for the hot food, but when Cody saw the expansive salad bar they had, he headed right over for it. Since their was no line for it, he got his food rather quickly and found a table to sit down at. Just as he was about to dig in, a girl sat down right across from him.

"There you are. I guess you got out of your floor meeting early, huh?"

Cody just looked at her in confusion. "Excuse me...do I know you?"

Marcy laughed again. "Teasing me, huh? Good one, Zack..."

Cody frowned. "Ummm...I've never met you before in my life. And my name's not Zack...its Cody."

Marcy stopped laughing and just looked at him. "You're still just teasing me, right?"

He shook his head. "Sorry...I can show you my learner's permit if you..."

Before he could finish though, four guys surrounded his table, and one in particular was glaring at him.

"What do you think you're doing? Mary over here is supposed to be my date for the evening!"

Marcy looked up at Zack in confusion. "First...its Marcy. Second...I thought he was you!"

Zack just laughed. "Oh please..."

One of his roommates spoke up. "Well...to be fair, Zack...that guy does look a whole lot like you..."

Zack smirked at him. "Get real. Yeah, we're both blonde and maybe a few similarities. But on me, this works. On him...blehhh."

Cody grabbed his tray. "Look. This has nothing to do with me. I'm just going to go find my friends..."

Zack stopped him. "I'd watch your back if I were you. No one tries to mack on my date and gets away with it! I'd advise you to stay away from Mandy from now on!"

She sighed. "Its Marcie..."

Cody just kept walking away not quite sure how he had got involved in all of that, but he was hoping that everyone would just forget about it. But Zack wasn't about to let it go. As he studied Cody and his roommates across the dining hall, a devious scheme began forming in his mind. And once he explained it to his roommates, they were all down to pull a prank on the nerds.

A few days later, Cody had just woken up and headed for the bathroom to get ready for his day. And as he was closing his eyes to heed mother nature's call that morning, he suddenly realized something was different. His feet were getting wet. Looking down, he noticed that someone had covered Siran wrap over the toilet. Immediately, he freaked out and felt disgusted. As quickly as he could, he headed for a shower stall to clean himself off. Upon returning to his room, he immediately relayed to his roommates what had happened, and two of them said the same thing happened to them. The fourth one just hung his head in shame and said he had been tricked by it too, but that he hadn't been urinating.

Cody shook his head. "I guarantee I know who is responsible for this!"

"You're evil clone?"

He sighed. "I don't think he looks anything like me, but I think that Zack guy is responsible..."

His roommate shrugged. "What can we do about it?"

Cody grinned. "We get even. I think I know of just the thing to do. Remind me to stop by the little campus store tonight..."

A few days later, Zack was heading for the shower himself after another grueling day of scrimmages. He turned on the hot water and just hung his head letting the hot water refresh him. Finally, he cleaned up, turned off the water, wrapped his towel around him and stepped out of the stall. At the same time, all of his suite mates did the same thing. And when they all saw each other, they screamed.

A few hours later, Cody and his friends watched as Zack and his friends walked into the dining room. And seeing them all now a shade of orange, they couldn't help but laugh. As Zack walked past their table, Cody began singing.

"Oompa Loompa...Oompa a Dee Dee. Mess with us, and we'll get even with thee..."

His friends began laughing again as Zack and his friends just glared at them.

"What did you do?"

Cody smirked. "Nothing. Just like you all didn't attempt to Siran wrap our toilets, right?"

Zack smirked back. "Orange jello in the shower heads. Such an amateur move."

A few days later, Cody and his roommates came back to their dorm room only to find it completely trashed. There was silly string everywhere and shaving cream and chocolate syrup covering the walls and windows.

Cody shook his head. "Gentlemen...they may have started this, but we're going to finish it!"

A few more days later, Zack and the rest of the basketball campers were in the midst of even more scrimmages when Cody and his friends slipped into their locker room. Cody handed them each a small spray bottle.

"What's in these again?"

Cody grinned. "A little thing called liquid heat. Its used to help soothe sore muscles. We're just going to help them out after their practice. Now, I was nice enough to dilute it with watert. Full strength, and...well, I'm just not that cruel of a person."

"So, what are we supposed to do?"

"Simple. Go through and douse all of the boxers with them. Once were done, we sit back and watch..."

An hour later, Cody and his friends hid behind some bleachers and just watched as Zack and his friends came out of the locker room. They were laughing about something until one at a time, they all began to fidget and hop around.

"Is anyone else feel like they are on fire?"

Zack was grimacing. "Yes! My boys are burning!"

They all looked at each other before running back into the locker room screaming out in pain. Cody and his friends just all began laughing until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see one of the basketball camp counselors glaring at him. Next thing he knew, he was being marched off to an office. And fifteen minutes later, Zack was marched in as well. The basketball counselor just glared at them both until one of the counselors from the math camp showed up as well. And then the basketball counselor began yelling.

"Alright, boys...I've had it up to hear with your prank war!" He pointed at Cody. "I'm going to have you thrown out of here for this latest stunt!"

Cody spoke up. "We didn't start it...we just defended ourselves! If you want to throw someone out.." He nodded towards Zack. "...throw him out. He started all of this."

The math camp counselor nodded. "I tend to agree. Why should Cody be thrown out for standing up for himself? We encourage all of our campers to stand up for themselves. Your guy started it, so he should be the one to face the consequences."

The counselors glared at each other. "He put liquid heat in their boxer shorts!"

"So? Did you see what he had done to my guys' bathroom and their dorm room? As far as I'm concerned, he got exactly what he deserved!"

They were still going back and forth when then head of UT summer programs came into the office and whistled loudly to shut them up.

"Enough! Its obvious you both are sticking up for both of your campers..." He smiled. "I have a better idea. Boys, head back to your dorms and pack your things."

Zack spoke up again. "We're both getting kicked out?"

"Even better. I'm going to make you two room together the rest of your time here!"

An hour later, Cody and Zack had both packed up their things and moved to a regular dorm room designed for two people. As they unpacked again, they didn't say a word to each other. Their first few days staying in the same room with each other, they both refused to speak to each other. They would simply wake up, go get cleaned up and head off in their separate directions. And that routine would probably have continued for their remaining time in Texas if fate hadn't stepped in. They each had a week of their camps left when Cody got up one morning to head for the showers. But when he tried to open the door, the handle broke off into his hand. Zack was right behind him and rolled his eyes.

"Good job, Egghead!"

Cody turned to glare at him. "Oh yeah...I really meant for that to happen. Being stuck in a room with you is so my idea of a good time..."

Zack glared back. "It probably is! Being here with me will be the highlight of your year!"

Cody just shook his head. "You know...if I hadn't promised my Mom that's I'd stay out of trouble, I'd...I'd...well...I'd do something really bad!"

Zack smirked at him. "Oh please...Don't hurt me. Besides, if I hadn't promised my Dad that I wouldn't get kicked out of here, I would have already given you a swirly by now. Heck, maybe I should call my Dad and ask him if I can anyways. Maybe he can give your Dad one and we'll make it father/son bonding!"

Cody just stood there. "Well, that might be a little difficult. I don't know where my Dad is. I haven't seen him since I was a baby. But I guarantee my Mom would take yours..."

Zack paused too. "Well, that might be a little difficult too. I don't know where my Mom is. I haven't seen her since I was a baby. But the one thing I do know is that she was a babe. And I know she could take yours any day of the week."

Cody smirked at him. "Doubtful!"

"I know she could. I actually have a picture of her." He walked over to his bag and pulled out a small box. He opened it and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and stuck it in Cody's face. "See! My Mom could definitely whip your Mom!"

But Cody went silent. That wasn't a picture of Zack's Mom...that was a picture of his Mom! He headed over to his bag and pulled out a similar box. And he pulled out a picture too. He walked back over and showed it to Zack.

"This is the only picture of my Dad that I have..."

Zack just looked at it and blinked several times. "But...but...but that's my Dad!"

Cody paused. "And the picture you have...that's my Mom!"

They held the pictures up to each other and realized that they were both half of one larger picture. Both just stood there in shock letting themselves take everything in. Cody shook his head.

"Wait a minute. If my Mom is your Mom..."

Zack continued. "And my Dad is your Dad..."

Both just looked at each other. "That would make us...brothers!"

Both sank into their beds dealing with the enormity of that realization. Zack finally spoke up again.

"How old are you anyways?"

Cody looked up. "I'm fifteen. I just turned fifteen on March 16th..."

Zack's eyes went wide. "I just turned fifteen on March 16th..."

Cody's head began spinning. "We aren't just brothers...We're twins!"

To be Continued...