'Cause, I'm young and hopeless
I'm lost and I know this
I'm going nowhere fast that's what they say
I'm troublesome, I've fallen
I'm angry at my father
It's me against this world and I don't care.'
The Young and the Hopeless - Good Charlotte.
Chapter Two - Seeing Red.
Bailey examined herself in the floor mirror and smiled in approval. It was now Saturday – 9:15 to be exact – and Bailey had awoken that morning to the sound of Cody's ring tone reverberating from her mobile phone along with a text message telling her to be dressed and ready for a surprise. While Bailey didn't have the slightest clue what Cody had in store for her, as she continued studying her reflection, she guessed that her outfit would satisfy both the outing and her boyfriend. She was wearing a bright red dress that came down to her knees and flowed outward in an array of pleats. Wrapped around her waist was a gold belt that hugged her figure and she also wore a pair of matching gold sandals. Her blonde curls hung out loosely by her sides and cascaded over her shoulders. Just as she finished brushing her fringe out of her eyes, Bailey looked up at the sound of the bathroom door opening.
"Hey, London," she said, amazed to see her roommate up at that time of morning, "So, what do you think?" Bailey then asked, doing a little spin to show off her outfit.
London paused for a moment, gazing Bailey up and down, "I think you should stay away from any dogs you walk past – you look like a fire hydrant."
Bailey frowned but soon shrugged off yet another unflattering comment from the heiress.
London, on the other hand, was wearing a short, strapless dress that blended downward into different tones of pink. Her dark hair was styled high on her head and she wore a pair of high, silver stilettos.
"Where's Cody taking you anyway?" London enquired.
"Not sure. He said it was a surprise," Bailey replied with anticipation leaking in her voice.
"Well just remember," London began, "if he makes you pay for anything, dump him."
Bailey scowled at London again, "Ignoring that comment, where are you off to this morning?"
"I'm meeting up with some friends that live down here," London responded as she opened the door to their cabin, "Apparently none of them have ever heard of the expression 'at the crack of noon'. Tootles!"
Bailey rolled her eyes as she watched London leave the cabin and then took a quick glance at the watch that sat on her wrist, "Oh, shoot! I've gotta' get to the Sky Deck to meet Cody."
Grabbing her red purse and her room key – assuming London had remembered to take her own – Bailey closed the door behind her and then, quickening her pace, made her way up to the Sky Deck to find Cody.
The mid-morning sun glared brightly in Bailey's eyes as she scoped out the Sky Deck for any sign of her boyfriend.
It was the perfect Autumn day up on deck – there was a slight breeze that complimented the hot Californian sun, and the ship rocked gently against the unforgiving waves where it was docked.
Just as Bailey was feeling ready to give up her search, she felt a hand on each of her shoulders and then spun around to meet Cody's cheerful gaze.
"Good morning my little Hay-Bail," he spoke happily, gently planting a kiss on her cheek.
"Hey, Cody," she replied, stifling a quiet giggle to herself, "What's going on? I thought we weren't going out till this afternoon?"
"Yeah, that was the plan," Cody spoke mysteriously, taking Bailey's hand in his, "but instead I've made reservations for us to have breakfast at one of the port's cafes right by the sea. What do you think?"
Bailey grinned in pleasant surprise, "Aw, Cody, that sounds great!"
"Well, then, let's go."
The two then walked, hand in hand, towards the ship's lobby on their way to the gangplank and then to the cafe where Cody had organised their date.
The conversation flowed as the sweet sound of Bailey's voice rang welcomely in Cody's ear, his cheeks already hurting from the constant smiling and laughing he found himself caught in. It wasn't long, however, until he felt his blissful expression drop as something in the lobby rapidly gained his attention.
"Aw, man, what's happened now?"
Hastily leading his girlfriend into the lobby, Cody swiftly made his way over to where Mr. Moesby was, once again, standing over Zack, looking as angry as ever.
"What's going on, Mr. Moesby?" Cody immediately asked.
Moesby growled under his breath in frustration and then redirected his heated vision from one twin to the other, "Your hooligan brother was caught trying to make his way into the ship's hull and up into the crow's nest."
Zack stared up guiltily at his brother while Cody's jaw dropped, "What?"
"And if missing his original test yesterday wasn't bad enough," Moesby continued, "he also skipped out on his make-up test this morning."
"It's just one little test Mr. Moesby, what's the big deal?" Zack snapped in his defense.
"It may seem like just one little test, Zack, but that one little test may certainly count towards a factor of your future when you try to make something of yourself!" Moesby retorted, "If that's even possible, of course."
Zack rolled his eyes and sank further down into the lounge he was seated in. The last thing he felt like hearing was how yet another person believed how quickly his life was going nowhere.
"Both Miss. Tutweiller and myself are at our wit's end with you, Zack," Moesby restarted, "And frankly, we're unsure how many more pranks, hoaxes, schemes or flat out wrongdoings we're willing to put up with before we pack you up and send you straight back to Boston."
Cody suddenly sensed a sharp twinge in his chest. Although he was extremely annoyed with Zack for breaking his promise to him, before he even had the opportunity to question himself why, the younger twin knew that having Zack sent home was definitely not something he wanted to happen.
"It wasn't Zack's idea, ok, it was mine."
Zack and Moesby both instantly snapped their heads up at Cody's unexpected revelation, "What?" they barked at him in unison.
Cody sighed, "Zack wouldn't stop whining and complaining to me about how he wasn't allowed to go up to the Hollywood sign and snap a picture of himself, so I made the suggestion to him to climb up into the crow's nest and get one. I didn't think he'd actually be stupid enough to do it."
There was a short moment of silence before Zack opted to break it, "You're stupid."
"Look, Mr. Moesby," Cody resumed, ignoring his brother's insult, "I know Zack hasn't been the easiest student to deal with here on the ship, but this one really was down to me. And even if he doesn't deserve it, I'm sure if you give him just one more chance he won't let you down, right, Zack?"
Zack remained silent. Although he was feeling slightly reluctant to blame Cody for something that was entirely his fault, he eventually sighed, too, and nodded to Moesby, "Nothing like this will happen again, Mr. Moesby."
Moesby nodded in return, smiling in appreciation at the sincerity in Zack's voice, and then took his mobile phone out of his pocket, "Well then, I suppose I should call Miss. T. And let her know you will be over shortly to do your make-up test."
As soon as Moesby turned away from the group to make his phone call, Zack looked up at Cody and mouthed the words 'thank you' while Bailey squeezed his hand in obvious support of what he had done for his brother.
"Oh, and Cody," Moesby abruptly chimed back in, "seeing as this whole dangerous fiasco was your idea, you can consider yourself grounded for the the time that we're here today, too."
Cody scoffed in shock, "What? But, Mr. Moesby, I've already got plans! I mean, doesn't it count for anything that I told the –"
"Zzzt!" Moesby snapped, wagging his finger at Cody as he so often did, "I'm in a phone call."
Groaning in unwilling defeat, Cody turned on his heels, glaring in fury and Zack and then marched into the elevator with Bailey in hot pursuit.
"Every time I have something to look forward to," Cody cursed as the two stepped out into the corridor of their deck, "every time, Zack ruins it!"
"It's not that bad," Bailey soothed as she tried to console him, "We can still have a nice day together on deck while everyone else is off having fun in the city."
Cody's expression softened, "Bails, you don't have to stay with me today if you don't want to. Why don't you see if London wants to go have breakfast with you instead?"
Bailey shook her head, "She's already gone out. Besides, it doesn't bother me. I wouldn't have any fun out on dry land without you anyway."
Cody forced a smile as the two then fell into silence. Bailey hesitated for a brief second, then cautiously licked her lips and opened her mouth to speak, "I think that was a really nice thing you did for Zack, sweetie."
The quiet prolonged before Cody emitted a sarcastic laugh, "Yeah, whether or not he deserved it."
Cody looked up at the sudden sound of a quiet knock from the other side of Bailey and London's door. In a way, he was pretty relieved - he and Bailey had been cramming in as much calculus revision as they possibly could for the past hour and, as far as he was concerned, any interruption was welcome. However, his feelings of reprieve didn't last as long as Cody may have hoped, as the cabin door swung open to reveal Zack standing on the other side of it.
"Hey, guys."
"Hey, Zack," Bailey spoke in reply to her friend. Cody stayed quiet as his brother made his entrance to the room and stood at the end of Bailey's bed.
"I just came up to say a proper thanks," Zack continued, directing his awareness at Cody, "If you didn't jump in when you did, Moesby would've thrown my sorry butt outta' here for sure."
Cody shrugged his shoulders, "Whatever, I'm sure you'll just find some other way to blow it tomorrow, anyway."
Zack's brow wrinkled in confusion while he shook off the slight stitch of offence that came with Cody's snapping retort, "This is about you getting stuck on the boat all day, too, isn't it? Well, look, if it makes you feel any better, Moesby's made me swab everywhere - even in places that I didn't know could be swabbed."
"Like where?" Bailey asked innocently, uneasily sensing what was bound to become a heated argument between the twins.
"Look, just forget it, ok?" Cody sniped, sitting upright on London's bed, "Forget all the plans I made with Bailey, all the Hollywood sites I'm gonna' miss out on seeing, forget everything. I suppose I really should stop expecting anything less every time I bail you out."
Zack scoffed, this time obviously insulted by Cody's comment, "Well, I'm sorry if I'm that much of a burden on you, Cody," he said cynically, "but nobody asked you to constantly look out for me."
"And nobody asked you to interfere with everything that goes on in my life, but you still do it."
Zack laughed at his twin in disbelief, "I hate to tell you this, buddy, but up until now we've pretty much been attached at the hip."
Bailey bit her lip nervously as she watched Zack draw in closer to where Cody was now standing in between the two beds in the centre of the room. Something certainly told her that this wasn't going to end well.
"Do you really think I want to spend every day of the rest of my life around you?!" Cody spat in an onslaught of anger.
Zack's expression dropped as he studied the look of refreshed rage that lay across his brother's face and he felt himself withdraw slightly from the argument at hand, "Well, no… but -"
"Exactly," Cody interjected, "no. And there's no buts about it. So, why don't you do Bailey and I a favour and just leave?"
Bailey's eyes widened as she scrutinized the pained expression on Zack's face. The awkward silence in the room stood for what felt like an eternity before Zack simply wiped all clear emotion from his face and turned to face the door, "Ok, fine."
As the door slammed back into place, Bailey cringed and glanced over at her boyfriend. There had definitely been many a time where she had found herself caught in this situation with the twins shooting all kinds of hurtful slurs at each other, but never before had she seen Cody so worked up and upset over something Zack had done.
As he felt the pair of concerned eyes penetrate his skin, Cody shifted his vision to meet Bailey's glance. He smiled at her softly, and for a split second, Bailey could swear she caught an apologetic glint in his eye, as momentary as it may have been.
"Don't worry about him," Cody plainly spoke, "or this revision, for that matter."
Bailey watched as Cody then hopped onto her bed and took her hand. He grinned at her again and then closed his eyes, leaning in to meet her lips. Bailey sighed and pulled away slightly, still in awe of Cody's blatant disregard for what had just gone down between he and his twin.
Cody raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong?"
Bailey hesitated, her eyes still locked with Cody's. She searched his pupils for any sign of his conscience churning through his system, but soon forced a reluctant smile when her expectations fell short.
"Nothing," she replied, gently pecking him on the lips, "I'm fine."
Ya see what happens? Once I start, I just can't stop, lol.
HEY GUYS :) I'm in an ultra happy mood coz taday was my last day of year 10 =D 6 weeks of summer holidays, YAY!
Anyways, what yaz think? Any ideas of where this whole pointless thing is actually going? Hopefully now that school's out I'll be able to update a little quicker. I know exactly what's happening in the next chapter but after that point it's pretty much just a whole bunch of random ideas all trying to cram their way in, so I guess depending on what I come up with, I'll either continue with this or go back to the final bit for 'Older Brothers'.
Questions, comment? Breaking 10 reviews would make me quite happy :) Thanks guys!
Reneyyyyyyyy x.