Chapter 9

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

The next morning, Cody was up bright and early like he normally was. After showering, he headed back to Zack's closet to find something to wear for that day. Sighing again at his options, he finally settled on a polo shirt and cargo shorts. After making sure he had all of his books and homework packed into Zack's backpack, he headed off to the kitchen to wait for Bailey to arrive. And thinking about seeing her again brought a smile to his face. It even helped him suppress his urge to make breakfast like he was so used to doing. Right at a quarter till seven, there was a knock at the back door. Cody went over to answer it, and there was Bailey. And a night's sleep hadn't changed his mind in the least...she was still the most beautiful site he had ever seen.

"Come on in..."

She smiled at him. "Thanks. You ready for your first day of summer school?"

He smiled back. "Always. The first day of school is one of my favorite days of the year."

She laughed. "Mine too! It ranks right up there with..."

And at the same time, both exclaimed. "Earth Day!"

Cody grinned. "Exactly! We should always do our best to try to save the environment..."

Bailey grinned back. "I know! If we don't, what will be left for future generations?"

"My point exactly..." Cody grabbed his backpack. "How about we get out of here and go grab some breakfast?"

"Sounds good to me. Lets go." She smiled again. "I know you're not used to it, but this is Seattle. Don't forget your umbrella."

He laughed. "How did I forget that?"

They were about to head out the back door when they heard a voice from behind them.

"Leaving for school already, Zack?"

Cody turned around and saw his Dad standing there in his pajamas and a robe.

"Hey, Dad...Yeah, Bailey and I were just about to head out."

Kurt checked the clock on the microwave and frowned. "But its barely 7:15...I didn't even think you knew there was a 7:15 in the morning. I figured you'd wake up at the last minute and throw some clothes on..." He paused. "And it looks like you showered..."

Cody just looked at him. "Well...ummm...yeah. I guess at basketball camp, we had a tight schedule and had to shower everyday. I guess I'm still in the practice of doing that."

Kurt laughed. "Well, looks like we should have sent you there sooner." He was still half asleep himself, and it finally dawned on him the his son was actually hanging out with Bailey. That was weird. From everything he knew, those two did not get along at all despite both being good friends with Addison, but when he walked in they were joking around and smiling at each other. Kurt just shook his head. Maybe he had dreamed seeing that.

"Anyways, I know I haven't been around that much since you've been home, Zack. And I'm sorry about that, but we're almost done with our comeback album. But, I want to make it up to you. I got tickets to the Mariners game on Friday night. You in?"

Cody smiled. From everything he had seen, there wasn't a more American father and son activity than going to a ballgame together. "Sure, Dad...I'd love to go. Who are they playing?"

Kurt grinned. "Get this...its the Red Sox! We can go root against those elitist snobs from New England! You know, the ones who call the Yankees the evil empire but are just as bad..."

Cody gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah...that would be...great."

"Yeah, it will." He paused and smiled again. "Oh yeah...make sure you clear your calender for three weekends from now. I have that time off, and we'll take our annual father/son camping trip up to British Columbia. Should be a lot of fun."

Cody nodded again without much emotion. "Yeah...it does. Well, I need to be heading out if I don't want to be later. See you later, Dad."

Cody and Bailey headed out, and once they got outside, Bailey turned to Cody.

"I thought you'd be happy to be doing things with your Dad. You didn't sound to enthusiastic about his ideas though."

He sighed. "Trust me. I really am looking forward to it. I just don't know if I will be able to pull it off though. One, I'm a huge Red Sox fan. It will hurt to have to root against them. But even more problematic, I've never been camping before. I was a wilderness scout for about a week when I realized it wasn't from me. That, and I have allergies. How do I explain me sneezing my head off or even developing watery eyes or a rash to my Dad?"

She paused. "I don't know...but, we'll figure something out." She grinned. "We'll just make sure you pack a big bottle of Benedryl with you when you go."

Cody just laughed at that. The headed off towards Padua High, and along the way, they stopped to get a cup of hot chocolate and a scone at one of Seattle's many coffee houses. As they ate, they continued chatting with each other, and both found becoming more and more at ease and comfortable with the other. When it got to be ten minutes before eight, they finally made their way inside the school, and Cody just followed Bailey to the room he was supposed to be in. And once they got there, Cody encountered a man that he thought could have been called a mountain. It was then that Cody realized he had no idea what the teacher's name was. Fortunately, Bailey was one step ahead of him.

"Good morning, Coach Morris."

Coach Morris nodded. "Good morning to you too, Miss Pickett." He turned to Cody. "And good to have you back, Martin. Hopefully, you learned something in Texas."

Cody laughed nervously. "You have no idea how much I learned, Coach Morris."

"Good. I hope you have at least done a little of the work you were supposed to do..."

Cody smiled. "Actually, I've finished all of the math homework and the history paper." He reached into his backpack. "Here they are right here."

Coach Morris just looked at him in surprise. "You finished it all? You didn't cheat and have someone else do this for you, did you?"

"I promise you, Coach..I can guarantee that I did all of this work. I ran into a kid from Boston who tutored me in math, and Bailey here was a sounding board for my paper, but I did all of the work myself."

The coach shrugged. "Alright. Well, you have nothing to do until the tests on Friday." He grinned. "Which is good because the team is in the gym practicing right now. Why don't you go join them and show them what all you learned..."

That caused Bailey to get concerned, but Cody didn't miss a beat. "Actually, Coach, I can't do that yet. My last day in Texas, I turned my ankle pretty bad. The trainer there told me no running on it or jumping off of it for a few weeks."

Coach Morris sighed. "Well, I don't want you playing on an injured ankle. I'd rather have you 100% when school starts back." He paused. "I guess you're free until Friday morning. Just stay out of trouble."

Cody and Bailey headed back out in the hallway, and he turned to her and laughed.

"Well, I guess I have nothing to do until Friday now, huh?"

She smiled at him. "How about I show you around Seattle then?"

He smiled back. "I'd like that."

They both began walking back towards the school front door when a group of guys came out of the gym. And when they saw Cody and Bailey walking together, they just stopped and stared.

"Good to see you back, Martin..."

Cody nodded. "Ummm...Good to be back."

One of the guys laughed. "I guess Texas really changed you then because you're now hanging out with the likes of Pickett here. You know what they say about Texas...only two things come out of there, and you ain't got any horns!"

Bailey grabbed his arm and tried to drag Cody away from them, but he held his ground. "Excuse me? What is wrong with me hanging out with Bailey?"

Another of the guys snickered. "Well, other than the fact that you both hate each other? Nothing..."

Cody was taken aback and just looked at Bailey in surprise.

Boston, Massachusetts

About the same time Cody and Bailey were entering Padua High to begin their days, Zack found himself finally climbing out of bed. Of course, the big difference being it was a little before eight in Seattle, but it was almost eleven o'clock in Boston. Stretching, he walked out into the main part of the suite to find his Mom sitting at the kitchen table sipping on a cup of coffee. When she saw him finally come out of his room, she just smiled and laughed.

"I was wondering if you were ever going to get up. I have to admit...I've never seen you sleep in this late ever before. That must have been one severe case of jet lag you had..."

Zack let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah, it was pretty bad. Plus, I played several games of basketball yesterday, and that wore me out too..."

Carey just looked at her son in surprise. "You were playing sports again? I never thought I'd see this day ever again."

"Yeah?"

"Of course. When you were eight, you told me you were forever giving up sports. I thought once we found out that it was an astigmatism that was causing your depth perception, you would give them another chance, but you never did..."

Zack paused and kicked himself for not remembering that. "Well, we had a lot of free time down in Texas, so we played some basketball and football. I guess I learned they weren't so bad after all..."

She smiled at him. "Well, I'm glad about that. Its good to see you branching out and trying new things."

He grinned back. "Well, it didn't hurt that there was a cute girl playing too..."

Carey laughed and got up and hugged him. "Good for you, Honey. I'm glad to see you finally getting over what Barbara did and are ready to move on."

Zack nodded. "Yeah...I decided there were other fish in the sea."

"So, what's her name?"

"Maya. She just finished her freshman year too. She's really cool."

Carey grinned. "So...when do I get to meet this young woman?"

"I don't know. I'm supposed to be going to see a movie with her this afternoon."

"Oh really. Does that mean I'm losing my movie buddy?"

Zack shook his head. He did remember Cody telling him about that. "Of course not. But Mom...I am growing up. So, I will want to see the occasional movie with a female my own age who I'm not related to..."

Carey laughed again. "I see how it is. You grow up, and you're old Mom gets thrown to the curb. I guess I have to get used to the fact that my baby boy is becoming a young man..."

He paused as an idea came to him. "You know, Mom...you could find a substitute movie buddy when I'm not available. I'm sure a lot of guys would like to take you out to one..."

She just looked at him and shook her head. "I don't think so, Cody. I appreciate your concern for me, but please, just drop the subject..."

"If you say so, Mom. Just trying to be helpful."

"I know you are. Let's talk about something else though, shall we? Oh...that reminds me. Mr. Moseby stopped by here earlier this morning. He wanted to ask a favor of you."

"Of me? What did he want?"

"Well, he said that Saturday was his mother's birthday. Anyways, he had asked Chef Paulo to bake her a birthday cake, but he was swamped with the convention at the hotel this week. So, he remembered you making one for Norman the Doorman last year and was wondering if you could make one..."

Zack froze and tried to think of a way to get out of that. But before he could, Carey continued.

"I said you would be happy to and would have it ready Saturday morning. I hope that's okay?"

He sighed. "Sure. Its fine. One birthday cake coming right up..."

Zack just shook his head. He had never baked a day in his life. Even when he took Home Economics back during the 8th grade, he had made sure he was partnered with Addison. At that moment, he really wished he had paid more attention to what was going on than trying to flirt with every other girl in the class. Pausing, he realized if he did this on his own, he would fail miserably and his cover would be blown. And unlike Cody had with Addison, he didn't know this Moseby guy was and chances are he could say something to his Mom. He knew he was going to have to call Cody and have him either make it himself and mail it or walk him through making it.

"Cody?"

Zack looked up. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I was just thinking about ideas for it." He shook his head. "I told Maya I'd give her a call this morning, so I should probably go do that."

Carey smiled. "Probably best that you did. Take it from a woman. If you tell her you're going to call her, make sure you do."

Zack laughed. "I'll have to remember that."

He got up and headed back into Cody's room. He grabbed his phone and pulled out the slip of paper Maya had given him last night from his shorts from yesterday. He began punching in the numbers when he paused and felt a foreign feeling to him. He was actually nervous about making this phone call. And for the life of him, he couldn't understand why. He had called enough girls before...why was this time any different? He tried shaking away the feeling and dialed the number. And after a few rings, Maya answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Maya. Its me...Za...Cody. Cody Martin."

He heard her laugh. "I know who this is. I was expecting your phone call after all..."

He laughed too. "True. Have you changed your mind or are you still up for seeing a movie?"

"I'm definitely still up for seeing one. But can I ask you a question first?"

"Go for it."

"Well, until yesterday, you seemed to act like I didn't even exist. I didn't even know if you noticed me or not."

Zack smiled. "Well, lets just say that since my trip to Texas, I'm thinking of things in a whole new way. And if I acted disinterested, I apologize for that. I..." He paused. "...well, I had just gotten out of a relationship that ended badly, and I guess I wasn't ready to move on yet. I am now."

"I'm glad to hear that. My turn to fess up now. I've kind of kept my eye on you for the past year or so. When I moved here from New York City, I was weary of guys. The last guy I dated had been a real player, and that completely turned me off. But I've seen that you aren't like that at all. I know you would never toy with a girl's emotions. That's why I feel safe enough going out with you. I know after your break-up, you know what it feels like to have that done to you..."

Zack paused for a moment not quite sure how to respond to that. There was something about Maya that he found himself drawn to more than he had to any other girl in the past. Of course, if she knew about his true past, she would probably not want to have anything to do with him. But maybe this was a fresh start for him. He actually found himself honored and humbled by what Maya had just said. He even tried to ignore the fact that she was actually talking about Cody. "Thank you. I can promise you this. After what I've been through lately, being a player had no appeal to me..."

"Good. So, what movie do you want to see?"

He smiled. "You choose."

"Really?"

"Of course."

"Well, there is this movie I do really want to see. I've heard great things about it. Its called 'Zombie Mom'..."

To be Continued...

AN: So people will quit posting comments about them, I promise to eventually get back to KTHB and NKOTB. I promise I haven't forgotten about them. I just ask that people respect that fact.