Chapter 6

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...

Boston, Massachusetts

Zack and Woody followed Maya back over to the basketball courts, and Zack began stretching. That was one of the things he learned the hard way at basketball camp. If he didn't stretch out, he was liable to pull a muscle. So, as he was stretching, Woody leaned down and whispered to him.

"What are you doing, Cody?"

Zack just smiled. "Just playing some b-ball, Woodchuck. And it doesn't hurt that that a total babe asked me to play with her."

Woody frowned. "But just before you left for Texas, you said Maya wasn't your type. Texas must have really changed you..."

Zack just looked at Woody in confusion. Not at anything Woody had said but what Cody had supposedly said. How was Maya not Cody's type? She was gorgeous and she liked to play basketball. What more could any guy ask for? Then he paused to think. From what he remembered, Cody was the smart and sensitive type. He shook his head. No self respecting girl liked that kind of guy. But he wasn't worried about that right now. He had a basketball game to play. He walked over next to Maya and smiled at her.

"We ready to play?"

She smiled back at him. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Zack was about to say something else when he sensed someone else had joined them.

"This is who you got to play with us? A chair would be a better player than Nerd Boy here would be!"

Maya rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Theo! We needed another player, and Cody agreed to play. For once in your life, try to be nice..."

Zack sized up this Theo guy in his mind. Almost instantaneously, he was positive – he didn't like him. But he didn't have much more time to worry about it as it was time to divvy up teams. And Zack did everything he could to make sure he was on the same team as Maya. From the get go, Zack was impressed. Not only did Maya play basketball, but she was actually really good. That just caused her to earn even more bonus points in his mind. Throughout the game, Zack actually found himself holding back a little bit. In his mind, he could take everyone on the other team off the dribble and score at will. But he was more than happy to set Maya up with nice passes. He smiled to himself as he realized it wouldn't hurt to look like a good guy and teammate in front of her.

"Nice pass, Cody!"

Zack smiled at Maya. "Even better shot, Maya!"

The next play down the court, Maya returned the favor and passed the ball to Zack for an easy layup. And when he went up for the shot, he suddenly felt a push to his back and he want falling underneath the basket. As he laid on the concrete trying to get his bearings again, he heard arguing.

"What was that all about, Theo? That was definitely a foul!"

Theo smiled at Maya. "You know the rules. No blood, no foul. Besides, its Martin. I can't let him think he'll ever get the best of me in anything..."

Maya glared at him, but Zack was livid. If that was the way this Theo guy wanted to play things, Zack had no problems playing the exact same way. Back on defense, Zack slipped his foot in between Theo's, and when Theo tripped, Zack grabbed the ball and ran down for an easy lay up.

Theo just glared at him. "Hey! That was a foul!"

Zack just smirked back at him. "I believe it was you who said no blood, no foul, correct?"

Maya laughed at that. "That's right, that was you who said that Theo..."

Theo just kept glaring at Zack. He tried to drive on Zack again, but Zack used legitimate defense to steal the ball from him and lead a fast break. It ended when he passed it behind his back to Maya for a lay up. The rest of the game flowed the exact same way. Zack's desire to teach Theo a lesson caused him to totally forget he was supposed to be Cody. He used every basketball move he knew, and his team ended up winning big. And the next few games went the same way. They continued playing until it got too dark outside, and everyone had to head home.

Maya smiled at Zack. "Okay...what was all of that? I never knew you were the athletic type!"

Zack smiled back. "Well, I like to think I'm a guy of many talents..." He paused and finally remembered to tone it down a notch. "Besides, when I was in Texas, I met a guy there for their basketball camp named Zack who taught me a few things..."

She laughed. "Well, it looks like you were definitely paying attention..."

"I try...Especially with those things right in front of me. What about you though? I didn't know you were so good!"

She blushed a little. "You really think so? I was on the freshman team last year. I'm hoping to bypass the jay-vee team and make varsity this year."

He laughed. "I know that feeling all too well."

She paused. "You do? I didn't know the academic bowl team had a junior varsity team..."

Zack paused to think quickly. "Oh yeah...Its very competitive."

Maya shrugged. "Huh...you learn something new everyday. Anyways, we're supposed to play again tomorrow night. You think you'd want to join us again?"

"I'd love too. But, how would you feel about us going to see a movie tomorrow afternoon first?"

She smiled again. "Cody Martin...are you asking me out on a date?"

He smiled back. "Well...my last name is Martin and I believe I just did. So, what do you say?"

Maya reached into her pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper and wrote down her phone number. "I'm thinking you should call me in the morning and we'll figure out the details from there."

"Sounds like a plan..."

Maya smiled at him again before heading off in the opposite direction. Zack just stood there grinning when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"What the heck was that?"

Zack turned and saw Woody looking at him strangely. He began laughing.

"Woodford...that was me getting a date with a total babe for tomorrow..."

Woody paused. "Can you ask her if she has a friend to bring along for me?"

"Sorry, Man. Not this time. Let me have the first date all by myself to use the Za..." He stopped himself. "...Martin Magic on her. Then I'll see what I can do."

Woody nodded. "Sounds good to me. I should have sent you to Texas a lot sooner."

Zack laughed. "Thanks...I think." He noticed the park was quickly getting deserted. "I think this means its time to head home."

Woody nodded and they were about to turn and leave when Zack saw an Asian girl with glasses glaring at him.

"I can't believe you, Cody!"

Woody cringed. "Awkward!"

Zack just looked at the girl in confusion until it finally dawned on him who it was. Cody had warned him about her – it was Cody's ex-girlfriend, Barbara.

Seattle, Washington

Cody put a load of clothes in the washer and headed back to Zack's room. He pulled out Zack's summer school packets and began looking at them. Looks like he needed to do some work for World History and Pre-Algebra. He pulled out the math work he had to do and began laughing. He had just taken Calculus the previous year at Cheevers High, so this shouldn't be any problem at all. As he sat down and began doing the problems, they were as easy as he thought they would be. And since they were so easy, it left time for his mind to wander. And when it did, it only wandered in one direction – to the beautiful angel he had just met.

For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why Zack had never mentioned her before. But right then, that didn't really matter. Cody knew he had told Woody he would know the girl for him when he met her, but this was a little crazy. He had just seen her briefly and knew nothing about her. Still...there was just something about her. Cody shook his head. He couldn't think things like that. He was just pretending to be Zack and couldn't do anything to throw a monkey wrench into Zack's life. So, he focused back on the math problems in front of him. And with the utmost concentration, he found himself finishing all of the problems rather quickly. Once he finished them, all he would have to do was take a final test covering the material.

He closed the math book and was about to pick up the history book when Sprinkles jumped up on to the desk and meowed at him.

Cody smiled and scratched her behind the ears. "You like that, huh?"

Sprinkles meowed again and began purring. That caused Cody to think. "Wait a minute..." He looked at the cat. "Can you tell that I'm not really Zack?"

He was greeted by another meow and another lick to his face.

Cody smiled again. "You won't tell anyone, will you?"

Sprinkles meowed again, and Cody laughed. "Thanks...So, what can you tell me about Bailey?"

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Bailey just looked at Addison in confusion.

"What's impossible?"

Addison shook her head. "I can't tell you. I promised my Mom I would never say anything."

"Come on, Addie...you can tell me. I won't tell anyone else. I promise."

Addison paused to think and sighed. "I guess it would be nice if someone else knew about this. Follow me..."

Bailey nodded and followed Addison to her room. Once they got there, Addison closed and locked the door behind them.

"Addie...what's going on?"

Addison smiled and went over to her dresser. She rummaged through a drawer and came back over to Bailey holding something in her hand.

"Look at this..."

Bailey did and discovered it was a photograph. She looked up at Addison. "I don't understand. Its a picture of three babies."

"Yeah..." Addison sighed. "The one in pink is me. And the one in green is Zack..."

"Who is the one in blue then?"

Addison collected herself. "That would be Cody...Zack's twin brother..."

Bailey just looked at her as if she was crazy. "Twin brother? What are you talking about?"

Addison patted her bed, and Bailey sat down next to her. "Its true. When Zack and his brother Cody were still babies, their parents split up and divorced. Seems Kurt wanted to head out on the road with his band while their Mom wanted a more stable environment for them. Well, they couldn't figure out how to divide custody..."

Bailey finished for her. "Are you telling me that they split them up and each took one of them?"

Addison nodded. "That's exactly what happened."

"Then why has Zack never told anyone he has a twin brother?"

Addison sighed again. "Because he doesn't know. I wasn't supposed to know, but I found that picture and forced my Mom to tell me the whole story..."

Bailey just shook her head. "This is the craziest thing I've ever heard! Are you telling me that...that...that that person who was cooking and cleaning earlier maybe be this Cody person?"

"I don't know. If it is, it would explain a whole lot, but then it would open up a lot of other questions like how he ended up here. Besides...there's no way to prove it really isn't Zack..."

Bailey smiled. "Addison, Addison, Addison...that's why we have Google!"

Addison looked at her funny. "Huh?"

"Get your laptop out."

Addison reluctantly did so, and Bailey began typing away on it.

"Okay...when I Google 'Cody Martin', there are..." She paused. "...450,000 results. Hmmm. What was their mother's name?"

"Carey."

Bailey began typing away again. "Okay...when I Google "Carey & Cody Martin', there are...127 entries. We can work with that. Let me try this first one."

Bailey kept clicking on links until she found one for something called the Tipton Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. And when she opened it up, her eyes went wide.

"Addie! Look at this!"

Addison did, and her eyes went wide. There was a picture of Carey and a twelve year old Cody. "The Tipton Hotel would like to announce that Carey Martin is joining our family as our in house cabaret singer. Carey and her son, Cody have moved here from Branson, Missouri." Addison looked up. "And look at the picture! The boy in the picture looks just like Zack did a few years ago!"

Bailey shook her head. "What the feathers? This is getting weird..." She paused and returned to Google. "Lets see what happens when we try 'Cody Martin Boston Massachusetts'."

She clicked enter and the first link provided was to a school called Cheevers High in Boston. When the webpage loaded, Bailey saw it was a student profile page.

Addison began laughing. "That picture looks just like whoever it is in the other room!"

Bailey paused. "Well, they are twins..." She began reading the profile. "In addition to being ranked number one in his class and being on the honor roll, Cody is a member of the cooking club..."

Addison interrupted her. "Which explains how he knew how to cook!"

"...the home economics club..."

"Which explains how he knew how to sew!"

"...the math club, the science club, the birdwatcher's club, the Latin club, the foreign language club, the National Honor Society, Mensa, the academic bowl team, the mathletes..."

Addison began laughing again. "His list of interests is almost the mirror image of yours..."

Bailey nodded and frowned. "You're right...Sounds like he is the complete opposite of Zack."

Addison teased her. "Maybe you two would actually get along then?"

Bailey rolled her eyes. "While this gives credence that it could be him, but how do we prove it?"

Addison paused to think. "I have no idea...Its not like we can just go up to him, ask him and hope he admits it."

Bailey just looked at Addison and smiled. "Addie, you're a genius! Come with me!"

Cody was looking at the World History textbook when there was a knock at his door. He looked up and told whoever it was to come on inside. The door opened, and Addison and Bailey walked inside smiling at him. Cody just smiled back.

"Hey..."

Bailey kept smiling. "We aren't interrupting you, are we?"

Cody shook his head. "Not at all. I could use the break."

"Good. Would you mind if I asked you a question, Cody?"

Cody smiled again. "Ask away. I'll be glad to help in anyway I..." He paused and the smile faded from his face. "You just called me Cody..."

To be Continued...

AN: 1) To the person getting vulgar and essentially threatening me to update my other stories...not cool. 2) Someone in another review said exactly what I've been unable to so far. Remember, in this story, Zack is still 15 and grown up with out a motherly figure or Cody in his life to help keep him grounded. If you want an example, think back to Bermuda Triangle and how Cody was in the alternate universe when he grew up in much the same way. Add in the fact that Zack is the more impetuous and outgoing of the two, and its easy (at least to me) to see that he would be even worse. And remember, when Bailey first met Cody in the AU, she didn't like him or get along with him at all at first either. Of course, she is naturally drawn to Cody's inner self, so she eventually overcame that when she saw there was a decent person underneath. Remember, this story isn't over yet and eventually, Zack and Bailey may learn to tolerate the other.