Chapter 8

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...

Seattle, Washington

Cody had dialed Zack's number and then hit the speakerphone button on his phone. Turning the volume all the way up so everyone could hear, he sat the phone on the desk. After several rings, Zack finally picked it up on the other end.

"What's up, Broseph? How are things going in Seattle?"

Cody paused. "What did you just call me?"

"Broseph. I call everyone by a nickname." He laughed. "You should have seen the look on Woody's face when I called him Plywood!"

Addison smiled and spoke up. "Its true. He's always calling me Addie..."

There was a pause on the other end before Zack finally spoke again. "Addie is there with you? What the heck happened?"

Cody had a wry smile on his face. "Lets just say my early attempts at being you weren't so convincing. Addison quickly figured out I wasn't you..."

Zack sighed. "Great...Good one, Codester!"

Addison laughed. "Don't worry about it, Zack. I completely understand what you two are trying to do, and I want to help in any way I can." She paused and contemplated mentioning Bailey was there too, but she decided against it.

"Thanks, Addie...Since it seems Cody can't do this by himself, I'm glad he'll actually have you there to help him out."

"It will be my pleasure. Besides, someone figured him out before I did...Sprinkles."

"Your cat? I thought that thing was gone. I haven't seen him in like six months!"

Addison laughed. "Well, he's laying in Cody's lap right now purring." She teased Zack. "I think she actually likes him..."

They could almost hear Zack roll his eyes. "Anyways, is anyone else suspicious?"

Cody was about to speak up and mention Bailey was there too when Addison cut him off. "Again, don't worry about it. We have everything under control." She laughed. "Besides, Cody is actually a good cook. I want to keep him around for a while."

"I can just feel the love, Addie. I..." There was a pause at the other end. "Ummm...Addie...you don't seem all that surprised by all of this..."

She sighed. "Because I already knew..." She explained for the third time about finding the picture and what her mother had told her. "I'm sorry I never told you, but I was honoring my Mom's request..."

"Its not your fault. I still blame Mom and Dad for this mess we are in." He sighed. "But...I have to say, from what I've seen so far, I really like Mom. She seems great."

Cody smiled. "Yeah. She is. She can't cook worth a lick though, so be forewarned. One time she made us salt encrusted pork and forgot the pork..."

Zack shuddered. "Thanks for the heads up. Oh, speaking of being forewarned, I ran into your ex-girlfriend earlier..."

Cody sighed. "Great. Let me guess...she was begging for another chance again, right?"

"Yeah, she was. And for the life of me, I couldn't remember why you said you two had broken up. But when she mentioned some guy named 'Bob', I quickly put two and two together. Tough break, Man. Personally, I've never been cheated on, but I imagine it has to suck..."

Cody just sat there and shook his head. "Yeah, it did." He paused, and for some reason, he saw Bailey out of the corner of his eye. "But as time passes, I've gotten over it and realized there are other fish in the sea..."

At the same time, Bailey just looked at Cody after hearing about what Barbara did. She didn't know why, but she felt her heartbreaking for him and anger at a girl she had never met. But hearing that he had gotten over her surprisingly made her feel better.

"That's good because you...or rather I...have a date tomorrow."

Cody just stared at the phone. "Excuse me? You have a date? With who?"

"Her name is Maya. Funny thing is your boy Woody said before you left for Texas that you had said she wasn't your type. Dude! She's a total babe, is cool, and she loves sports! What's not to like? What is your type anyways?"

Cody just sat there for a second thinking of how to answer that. And as he was thinking, Bailey was extremely curious to hear his response.

"Well, I prefer a girl who is smart, sweet, kind, accepts me for who I am...you know...someone I can just be myself with and that's okay."

Zack laughed. "Good luck finding that!"

Addison just shook her head, but Bailey had a small smile break out on her face. Addison spoke up again.

"Just be careful, Zack and remember to be a gentleman. Remember, everything you do reflects back on Cody. I'm sure he wouldn't like it if you ruined his reputation..."

Zack sighed. "Fine. I'll try to be good." He paused. "By the way, Codester, your boy Woody is alright. Not the brightest bulb in the world, but a genuinely good guy."

Cody smiled. "Yeah, he is. When I moved to Boston three years ago, he and I hit it off and we've been best buds ever since. A word of warning though...don't be around him after he's had Mexican food."

Zack laughed. "Too late for that. The boy is a genius when it comes to what he can do with his farts!"

Cody cringed. "Unfortunately...I'm all too aware of that fact."

"Speaking of being aware of facts. Did you know Arwin has a date tonight?"

"He does? With who?"

"Some woman who lives in his building. I thought you said he had the hots for Mom, but he told me that he realized she was still in love with someone else and knew it was time to finally move on. Did she ever mention anything about that to you?"

Cody paused. "No...not really. I told her she should give Arwin a chance, but she told me she was just fine with the way things were. But that would explain why she hasn't had more than a handful of dates that I know of..."

"You think she's still in love with Dad?"

"I have no idea. Every time I've always tried to talk to her about him, she always changed the subject." Cody stopped to think. "Has Dad ever said anything about her?"

"He changes the subject too...Though, right before I left for Texas, he and I were talking. He said music was one of the two loves of his life. But when I asked him about what the other was, he just told me to hurry or I'd miss my plane. You think he was talking about Mom?"

"I don't know, but I can do some snooping here to see what I can find. After all, I am president of the Boston Holmies..."

"The what?"

"Its a group that are fans of Sherlock Holmes and fancy themselves as pseudo private eyes."

"Well, see what you can find. And Addie?"

Addison spoke up. "Yeah, Zack?"

"Make sure he doesn't ruin my reputation while he's there!"

She laughed. "I'll try."

"Alright, call me if you find anything or if something else comes up."

Both sides hung up, and Cody sat there looking at his cell phone before he turned back to Addison and Bailey.

"Zack's right. I have to do better in pretending that I'm him. And as long as I have you two around, you can help me. But tomorrow, I have to start summer school for him. How am I supposed to do that with potentially screwing up again?"

Addison sat there thinking, but Bailey smiled as she had an idea. "That's an easy one. I'm supposed to be helping tutor during summer school. I can just get assigned to you so I'll be there to help you out."

Cody sighed in relief. "Really? That would be great!"

"Don't worry about it. What subjects does he have to be taking?"

"Pre-algebra and world history. I...ummm...well...I've already done all of the pre-algebra homework, so all I would have to do is take the test..."

Bailey smiled at him again. "Well, that's one down. That just leaves world history..."

Cody paused. "Yeah...about that. It says here I have to do a paper and then take a test. But I'm left with a moral quandary."

"What's the quandary?"

"Well...I'm supposed to write a paper on a figure in European history. In fifth grade, I wrote a paper on King Louis XIV. Technically, I'm going to have to write the paper anyways, but would it be unethical to just use one I've already written before? I mean...it would be a paper I wrote, and no offense to Zack or to toot my own horn, a paper of mine from fifth grade might match one he wrote for freshman year..."

Bailey laughed. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that. But, I can definitely see your concern." She smiled. "I say it says a lot about your character that you even debated with yourself whether or not to use it. But under the circumstances, I don't see why not. Like you said, technically, you did write the paper. And it would give you more time to focus on other things." She paused and tried to cover herself. "You know...like getting to know your Dad..."

Cody smiled back. "Thanks. I just need to log into my network and pull it up. I've archived every paper I've ever written there."

"I've done the exact same thing!"

He laughed. "I took the extra step and threw in a random paragraph in each one to thwart would be thieves. In this particular one, I added a paragraph saying that I had an irrational fear of bananas..."

She laughed too. "That's genius! That way if someone stole it, the teacher who read it would see that paragraph and they would be busted..."

"Exactly!"

"That's a great idea. Would you mind if I borrowed it?"

"Not at all. In fact, I'd be honored if you did."

Just then, the buzzer for the dryer went off.

"If you ladies will excuse me, I need to go switch out loads of laundry. Be right back." After saying that, Cody left the room with Sprinkles right behind him.

Addison just turned to Bailey and smiled as she shook her head. "Wow..."

Bailey turned to look at her. "What?"

"Oh please..." Addison began laughing. "I saw your face when you heard about his ex-girlfriend and when he said what his type was. Add that to the constant smiles and laughing, and its quite obvious..."

Bailey broke eye contact. "What's obvious?"

"You know...it is okay for you to admit that you are interested in him. I won't say anything..."

Bailey sighed. "I just can't explain it. For reasons I can't even grasp, he intrigues me. He's like no one I've ever met before..."

Addison grinned. "Other than physically, right?"

"Even there, I can tell some differences. But its more than that. I mean, you read his student profile and saw the way he lit up talking about physics and math. And by the way...yeah, he's also very nice and considerate, and its obvious he cares about his mother and friends. So, he's got brains, personality, and he's cute. I...I..." Bailey sighed. "I don't even know what I'm saying..."

Addison wrapper her arm around Bailey's shoulders. "Its okay. I was just taken by surprise...that's all. I mean...in the year you've lived here, I haven't seen you show any interest in any guy. And then in a matter of hours, you're tongue tied by a guy who is the twin brother of someone you hate..."

Bailey sighed. "I don't hate Zack. He's just not someone I would prefer to spend my time with. We have absolutely nothing in common, and even you have to admit he comes off like a jerk sometimes."

"Well...yeah. Sometimes. But then again, I've known him my whole life. So, I'm used to him. And remember, he's spent the majority of his life without having a mother to help reign him in or to give him a female role model. I know I'm here, but I'm not an authority figure to him." She smiled. "Who knows? Maybe having Cody in his life now will have an impact on him."

"Maybe you're right..."

Addison kept grinning. "Besides, if you keep crushing on his brother, you're going to have to deal with him being around..."

Bailey just shook her head. "I knew I should have kept my mouth shut about that..."

"About what?"

Both turned to see Cody carrying a laundry basket back into the bedroom.

Bailey paused. "Oh...I was just talking to Addison about the situation with you trying to get to know your Dad, but I realized I shouldn't try to interfere.

Cody smiled at her. "Hey, if you have any good ideas, I'm all ears. It will be kind of weird having a real male role model in my life for a change. For the past three years, all I've had were Arwin, Esteban and Mr. Moseby. None of them would be considered...manly men." He laughed. "That and being raised by my Mom probably explains why I'm not the most...manly of boys either..."

Bailey smiled back at him. "I wouldn't necessarily call that a bad thing. I mean...you can cook, clean, sew and are responsible. Those are very admirable traits..."

Addison just looked at her and shook her head. She turned back to Cody. "Well, since tomorrow is a school day for you two, we might should be calling it a night..."

Cody and Bailey both looked at each other and reluctantly nodded. Neither was in any hurry for the night to come to an end, but both realized Addison was right.

"Addie's right. Tell you what though...since you don't know where the school is, I can stop by tomorrow and walk there with you if you want..."

Cody smiled again. "Thank you once again. I'd really like that."

Bailey smiled again too. "Sounds good. I'll meet you here at 7:30."

"Good...if you want to come early, I'll have breakfast made for everyone."

Addison spoke up. "I don't think so. Zack doesn't cook. He has trouble making pop tarts."

Cody's face fell. "Oh yeah. Well, then I can at least buy you a croissant or something on the way?"

Bailey laughed. "I think that would be okay. See you at 7:15 then."

Addison just shook her head again. "Just make sure you two are quiet that early in the morning. I don't have to be anywhere, and I'd like to sleep in!"

Back in Boston, Massachusetts

Zack hung up the phone and just looked at it. "Dang it, Cody! If he isn't careful, he's going to ruin our whole plan! How am I going to make this work here in Boston if Cody gets busted that easily in Seattle..."

He shook his head and left to head back up to suite. But as soon as he left, someone walked around the corner and just watched Zack walk away.

"Well, well...I must say...that was certainly interesting..."

To be Continued...