Onboard the S.S. Tipton everyone quickly adjusted to their new school routines, although it was easier for some compared to others. Despite some small mishaps and misadventures Cody and Bailey were both in their element. They quickly adjusted to their daily routine, including sticking to the bathroom schedule in their cabin and neither of them could be any happier. Not only were they getting a world-class education despite some of their early misgivings about Ms. Tutwiler's teaching credentials, but beyond anything else they had both made a new best friend that just seemed to get them.

They were spending most of their days together since they thankfully had the same class schedule, including several AP courses. So, they always had a partner for any group projects, despite Zack's protests over Cody abandoning him, so they had someone to study with every night. Their system was working so well for them, that they quickly worked their way a month ahead in most of their classes…. Except for some of the ones taught by Ms. Tutwiler since she wasn't that far ahead in her lesson planning. When it came to their academics things were going great, their only issue there was when Cody was determined to capture proof of the legendary sea monster Galapagos Gertie, but after a night of Zack messing with them and no proof, Cody eventually agreed with Bailey's idea to write their science report on penguins instead.

They still spent time with all their other friends, but more often than not that led them into trouble instead. Like when everyone ended up in jail on Parrot Island, only to be freed by Porkers who, after being quarantined for a few weeks became their third roommate at Bailey's insistence. And something about Bailey looking up at him with pleading eyes, turned Cody's instinctual no into a reluctant yes, but after the first few days, Cody started to appreciate having Porkers around too. He was still 10 times neater than Zack ever was.

Speaking of Zack, after that first round of smoothies, he didn't let up on spending his student card until he'd drained all of Cody's as well as his own, and because of this, Zack was now the one working the smoothie counter and much to Cody's disgust, he was now working as a towel boy on the Skydeck. He didn't mind doing his own laundry, in fact, he sometimes enjoyed it, but having to handle all the dirty towels after people used them was the worst job he could imagine, he went through a bottle of hand sanitizer every time he was on shift.

And even worse Cody could admit to himself, when he was working in the afternoons every day cut into his time with Bailey. He was a great study partner but beyond school they always found ways to have fun together, whether it was just sitting out on the Skydeck or in their rooms talking about the latest scientific discoveries or practicing the many foreign languages they both knew, or watching documentaries on their laptops in their room Cody had never had anyone he could do these things with before. So, whenever he did have a free moment behind the towel counter even then he was usually thinking about what he and Bailey would be doing later.

Bailey meanwhile had many of the same thoughts as Cody. She was happy that so far no one was any wiser to her real gender. There had been a few close calls though. One time Zack, Cody, and Woody wanted to hit the ship's wave pool and water slides, but Bailey had just fibbed that her stomach hadn't been feeling the greatest that day, so she just sat out on the sidelines and watched as they had their fun. However that had the benefit of Cody playing her doctor for the next few days to make sure she was feeling alright again. Which she maybe didn't mind even if he was just slightly annoying in his insistence that she needed proper rest. There had also been a few times that London looked at her a bit too closely as she loudly complained about how hideous all her clothes were which Bailey one hundred percent agreed with, but in those times, she almost swore London out of anyone could look past the ugly clothes to see the real her underneath.

And despite how much time she and Cody spent together every day, in the afternoons when he had to work, she still found herself missing him, which she knew in her head was silly. Usually, her solution to this was just to bury herself even more in her homework, but some days not even that worked until Cody came back to their room so they could study together.

Bailey could admit only to herself how much she liked spending time with Cody no matter what they were doing, and he was always so kind and considerate to her, even when she could admit she acted kind of weird when it came to hiding her gender for him, like the bathroom situation. But also, something she could also admit to just herself… he was kind of cute. Sure, he was scrawny compared to most boys back in Kettlecorn, but she could never ignore the twinkle in his eye when he was talking about something he was knowledgeable about or was excited to learn. There had even been times she had felt her face heating up in a blush, but thankfully Cody never seemed to notice.

Besides, that obviously couldn't happen ever. She was a boy now, and she couldn't let anyone know, not even Cody…even if he was happy to hear about all her stories of the farm, just as much as she loved his stories of Boston. If there was one person she wished she could tell the truth to it would be him, but she couldn't.

Of course, she hadn't told her parents about all the secrets she had to keep while staying onboard, but she couldn't help but talk to someone about Cody, so in all her letters home she told her parents about her roommate Katie, but other than that pretty much described him as Cody was. She just knew if she told her parents the truth, they'd either call the ship to make them send her home, or they'd come to take her back themselves, especially if they knew her roommate was a boy.

She'd initially had her misgivings about that fact too, and honestly, Cody had never been anything but kind, honest, and respectful to her. She'd even considered taking down the sheet and rope between them at night, but Bailey wasn't ready for that either. If she let one of her walls down, she was worried someone as smart as Cody would see through the rest and everything would come crashing down around her.

But anyway, they had been at sea for about a month, and already explored so many wonderful places whenever the ship docked in port. Bailey was still super excited to be on the adventure of a lifetime, but when she got her latest letter and a package from home, she was super excited.

Woody, Zack, Cody, and London were all with her as they went through their mail, and Bailey was surprised to see an actual package addressed to her. "Ooh, a package from the farm!"

"Is it homemade pie?" Cody asked.

"A fresh peach cobbler?" Zack guessed.

"Even better!" Bailey cheered when she opened the box. "Mulch!"

"Mulch?" Everyone asked, cringing away and sounding confused.

"Rotten vegetables and woodchips," Bailey reported as she grabbed a handful and took a sniff of the familiar scent. "I think I'm going to cry." She couldn't help her emotions from breaking through her teenage boy façade.

"Does it smell that bad?" Zack asked.

"No, it smells like home," Bailey reported. "You know this is the first year I'm missing the Kettlecorn Mulch festival."

"Let me guess, you were Mr. Junior Mulch?" London asked sarcastically.

"Three years running," Bailey reported proudly. "And this year I would have been a shoo-in for Corn Quee- I mean King… I miss home!" Bailey yelled with tears gathering in her eyes and a lump rising in her throat. She knew she was about to blow her cover completely, so she just ran back to her cabin as fast as possible.

"That was weird," Cody said.

"Who cares about being the Mayor of Mulchtown?" London asked, turning her attention back to the new gold bar from her mail.

"Bailey, look how upset he is. He must be homesick." Cody pointed out.

"So what? Let him deal with it," Zack said, "so what if he's homesick, he's a dude, he'll get over it."

"Says the dude who made London drive him to Math Camp because he couldn't imagine the thought of being away from me for a week." Cody shot back.

"Oh yeah, I remember that. I still don't understand why Mosby was so mad about the prndle." London added.

"Ok ok, moving on, what are you getting at?" Zack asked, obviously trying to change the subject.

"Well, if Bailey is sad about missing the Mulch Festival…we should bring the Mulch Festival here, we can hold it out on the Skydeck and elect Bailey Corn King."

"Why does he get to be Corn King?" Zack asked.

"Because the Corn King needs to have a GPA above 1.75." Cody shot back.

"Ok fine, so what even is a Mulch Festival anyway?"

Cody shrugged his shoulders, "No idea, but I'll do some research tonight, and if the internet doesn't have anything, I'm sure I can just call Bailey's parents and find out everything I need to know. Now will you guys help me with this?"

"Sure thing Cody, Especially if this means you'll have plenty of food. Like corn on the cob, creamed corn, cornbread, corndogs, popcorn, corn fritters, corn chips…." Woody began listing off excitedly.

Cody interrupted him, "Ok Woody, I'm glad you're in. Zack?"

"I don't know, if this was to impress a girl or something maybe, but why are you going through all this trouble for Bailey?"

"Because he's one of my best friends Zack, come on, after everything you've dragged me into over the years can you please help me with this? I know you think we're both nerds but even you have to admit Bailey is pretty cool."

"Fine, I suppose. Despite being a nerd, he is still cooler than you."

"London?"

"What?" London looked up from the gold bar that she had been distracted by while the rest of them were talking.

"Can you help us out? I'm sure you could convince Mosby and maybe help pay for some of the things we need."

"And why would I do that?"

"Remember when Bailey showed you his Smarticle Particle Cologne?" Cody reminded her.

"Yuck, that stuff smelled hideous but it worked, I got a B-! So I guess I'll help you out, just tell me what you need." London said enthusiastically.

"Thanks, guys, now I better go get started on my research, and hopefully I'll have some more specific plans to show you later," Cody promised and he headed back to his cabin.

But when he walked in, he found Bailey lying down on his bed still sobbing.

"Oh hey, Cody." Bailey tried to dry his eyes, but beyond his red face that made Cody's heart skip a beat, Cody also noticed how high his voice was compared to how it was normally.

"How are you doing Bailey?" Cody asked, sitting down on his own bed across from him.

"Honestly not the greatest. Don't get me wrong I love it here, but just thinking about missing the Mulch Festival put into perspective how far away I am from home. But don't worry, we have homework to do don't we?"

"You know what, just for today I think we can take a break," Cody reassured him. "I mean we are a month ahead in all our classes. You know I heard that a warm shower has relaxing properties, and when you're done you can tell me all about the Mulch Festival if you'd like."

"Yeah, I think I would like that. Thank you, Cody, ever since day one you've always been there for me. I can't wait to tell you everything, just to warn you, you'll probably learn more about mulch tonight than you ever wanted to know." Bailey managed a small smile in gratitude.

"I'll consider myself warned, but when it comes to any knowledge, there's no such thing as too much," Cody reassured him.

Bailey grabbed his things and then stepped into the bathroom. Once Cody heard the shower turn on. Cody saw Bailey's phone on the nightstand, and while he felt slightly guilty for doing this without Bailey's permission, Cody reassured himself he had a good reason for it, and this was all to make Bailey happy again.

When he opened the phone, he froze for a moment, on the phone's wallpaper was a picture of the most beautiful girl Cody had ever seen. She had long, dirty-blonde hair, beautiful brown eyes, and a gorgeous smile. And something about her was familiar, whoever she was looked a lot like Bailey did. Maybe it was one of his sisters. Or could it be Bailey's girlfriend and his eyes were just playing tricks on him? Bailey had never mentioned anything about having a girlfriend, but Cody shook his head to snap out of it. That was not one of the questions he needed to answer right now. He scrolled through his contacts until he found one labeled Home. He wrote the number down on a sticky note and then placed the phone back where he had found it.

He then left a sticky note, vaguely saying that London needed his help with her computer, and then left the room, headed for one of the empty classrooms to ensure he had plenty of privacy to make his call. Once he was inside, he quickly dialed the number he had written down and waited as the phone rang for someone to pick up.

"Pickett Residence." Cody could hear a kind-sounding voice answer the phone.

"Hi Mrs. Pickett are you Bailey's mom?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"I'm Cody, Bailey's roommate on the S.S. Tipton."

"Cody? I could have sworn Bailey told me your name was Katie."

"Um no it's Cody, Ma'am," Cody said, wondering why Bailey would say his name was Katie of all names.

"Ok, wait why are you calling is something wrong?" Mrs. Pickett asked in a slight worry.

"No no, nothing's wrong Bailey's perfectly fine… and well ok he isn't fine right now. He got your package of mulch in the mail today and now he's homesick. Bailey's been crying in our room for the past half hour."

"Oh no, do you want me to call her?"

"While I think that would be good, I have an idea, Mrs. Pickett. By any chance can you tell me everything that happens during the Mulch Festival? I think it would cheer him up if my friends and I threw him a mulch festival here on the ship."

"Really? You'd do that for Bailey?"

"Of course I would, he's not only my roommate, but Bailey's quickly become my best friend. If I can help him feel better, I want to."

"Oh sure thing, I hope you have a pen and paper handy, just how much do you want to know?"

Cody grinned to himself as he pulled a pen out of his pocket and grabbed a notebook from the supply closet. "Tell me everything."

And Bailey's mom did just that, listing just about every corn dish known to man, including quite a few that Cody had never heard of before, as well as all the different games and competitions, square dancing, and of course the Corn King and Queen.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Pickett."

"Oh it's no trouble at all, and please call me Eunice." Bailey's mom insisted, "Bailey's told me all about you already, I'm just so glad she found another girl who's just like her on that ship. Now I'll let you go, but feel free to call again if you need any more help."

"Sure thing Eunice. Thank you again." Cody hung up his phone but as he looked over his list of things to get ready, he was a bit confused. Not by any of the Mulch Festival plans, but Cody could have sworn that Eunice had been saying she and her when talking about Bailey throughout their conversation, but Cody assumed maybe he was just mishearing her southern accent or he was getting bad cell service, but then at the very end, why did she think he was a girl? That didn't make any sense. Oh well, Cody had what he needed and that was what mattered. Now he just needed to talk to London so she could have everything delivered to the ship, talk to Mr. Mosby to get permission, and get Zack and Woody on board to help him set everything up. He knew this was going to work and Bailey would be back to himself in no time.

Meanwhile, back in Kansas, Eunice also hung up the phone with a confused look on her face, so Katie was Cody? There was no way her Bailey would make a spelling mistake like that, and maybe it was her Boston accent or the telephone, but it did sound like Eunice had been talking to a teenage boy instead of a teenage girl. Also, Cody had said he when she talked about Bailey. Something wasn't adding up here, but she had no idea what it was. If Bailey was feeling as homesick as Cody said she was, she should probably call and check in on her.

When Cody got back to his room, Bailey was looking a little bit happier but he was still obviously homesick.

"Oh Cody, thank goodness you're back." Bailey brightened when he saw him walk in.

"Hey, sorry, I just helped London how to update her computer." Cody fibbed.

"It's ok, I saw your note, but now that you're back, would you mind me telling you all about the mulch festival? I think you're right that it'll help me, and I want to tell you all about it."

Cody sat down on his bed, carefully hiding the paper with his plans folded up in his pocket. "Bailey I'd like nothing more, tell me everything."

And Bailey did just that and sharing everything with Cody didn't take away all her sadness, but it was helping, especially since he seemed so interested in what she was telling him about, even asking plenty of questions for clarification from time to time. Bailey knew Cody must really care, both about her and maybe even the Mulch Festival itself.


Three days later, almost everything was ready. The Skydeck was all decked out with plenty of corn, mulch, and cowboy hats, but Cody was still running around in a panic as the minutes ticked away making sure everything was perfect based on what both Bailey and Eunice had told him about the festival. He's asked London to distract Bailey most of the day by taking him shopping with her. Cody knew from experience meant Bailey had spent the day as a pack mule, but it was the best thing Cody could think of to keep him busy.

Cody himself was dressed in jeans, cowboy boots, and a jacket, with a red flannel shirt and a red bandanna around his neck as he ran around giving everyone last-minute instructions.

"Cody, calm down dude," Zack called out to him.

"I can't calm down, Bailey's going to be here any minute." Cody insisted. "Woody, how are the corn fritters?"

"Frittered," Woody reported.

"Popcorn?"

"Popped," Zack reported.

"Cornbread?"

"Corny."

"Creamed Corn?"

"Creamy, can we stop this now?" Zack asked.

Cody looked around in a panic. "No, where's the square-dance caller? Someone call the caller!"

"Ha ha!" Mr. Mosby ran up to the stand on top of the covered hot tub by the microphone, dressed in a western shirt and chaps. "Howdy partners! I'm Marion Mosby your square-dance caller! Let's all get ready to hoot an' holler."

"Mosby?" Zack asked, a note of disbelief in his voice.

"Look it was the only way I could get permission to use the Skydeck. Apparently, calling is on his bucket list." Cody whispered to his twin.

"Bailey's coming!" London ran in and announced loudly.

"Places people!" Cody shouted and motioned for everyone on deck to get to their places.

Bailey walked up to the Skydeck, wearing cowboy boots and hat, jeans, and a blue plaid T-shirt, and his eyes lit up as everyone around him shouted "Surprise!"

Bailey was in shock, but she slowly recognized everything around her. "Wait a minute! Barrels of finely aged mulch? Every corn dish known to man? Creamed corn, corn pudding, corn souffle… Ah, the corn crown and cob scepter? If my pappy is passed out in a pickle barrel, this must be the Mulch Festival!"

Cody proudly walked up to him. "Welcome to Kettlecorn on the Sea."

"Oh my gosh. Cody this is amazing." Bailey said, looking straight into his eyes with her full attention on him.

"And I have a feeling I know who's going to win Corn King."

"Who?" Bailey thought, and then she remembered she was a guy. "Oh me, really? I mean not that I expect to win or anything". Bailey said, besides she'd much rather be Corn Queen. "Oh Cody, you are seriously the best. You are sweeter than caramel corn."

"And I don't get stuck in your teeth." Cody joked, making Bailey laugh, and his laugh once again sent shivers down Cody's spine, like he would do anything to hear that laughter every day.

"Cody, this is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. I don't know how I could ever thank you."

"Well…" Cody said, "I just wanted to make you happy. Now are you ready to have some fun? I remembered everything you told me, and I also talked to your mom to make sure I got everything perfect."

"You, you talked to my mom?" Bailey asked nervously.

"Yeah, sorry I had to snoop at your phone to find your house number but she told me everything you do in Kettlecorn, so other than some of the animals I promise we have everything here. So, are you ready to get started celebrating?"

If Cody had talked to her mom, then that could be a big problem, but Bailey decided she'd worry about that tomorrow. Because tonight, she was at the Mulch Festival with her best friend.

"Alright everybody, it's square-dancing time! Everyone grab a partner!" Mr. Moseby announced from up on his stage.

"Cody, do you want to be dance partners?" Bailey asked him.

"Well, are you sure? I'm afraid I have two left feet when it comes to dancing." Cody warned her.

"Don't worry, square dancing is easy, just follow the pattern and the beat just like a geometry proof."

"Alright, but are you sure you don't want to find a good ol' country girl to dance with?"

"No way, I want to dance with my best friend," Bailey replied, and when he smiled at him like that, there was no way Cody could say no.

"Let's do it." Cody agreed.

And they did just that, they spent plenty of time square-dancing and despite Cody stepping on Bailey's toes a few times in the beginning, once he got the pattern down, he was a natural, and it certainly didn't help that Mr. Mosby was a surprisingly good caller. And even then Bailey didn't mind Cody stepping on her toes, or when they had to hold onto each other to perform certain moves, but she of course had to keep that fact to herself.

Once the square-dancing floor cleared up, it was time for all the traditional Mulch Festival Games, but this time no one could match Bailey's skill at either the corn-bobbing or arm-wrestling competitions, happily taking home several stuffed animal prizes for her and Cody's cabin.

Cody made sure to enter every game with him, but he didn't mind losing to him, no matter how much grief Zack gave him about Bailey being manlier than he was. Cody just pointed out that Zack wasn't even entering the competitions, so what did that make him?

At the end of the night, once all the games were played, and all the corn dishes had been eaten, Mr. Mosby once again walked up to the microphone, "Well gather 'round farm folk. It's time to crown the corn king and queen so lend me your ears! Now one of you lovely ladies is going to take home the crown, and I bet the rest of you are going to say aw shucks. Sorry, all these corn jokes, I'm getting creamed." Mr. Mosby joked one more time to an unamused audience before finally opening the envelope.

"And the winner is London Tipton!"

"Yay me!" London cheered and ran up to the stage.

Bailey forced herself to smile, she knew she was being irrational, but she wished there was some way for her to be chosen as corn queen, but she couldn't. And she supposed she shouldn't be surprised that London won since she was the most popular girl on the boat.

London happily walked up to the stage as Mr. Mosby grabbed the mic once again, "And by an overwhelming margin our Corn King is…Bailey Pickett!

"I won? Yes!" Bailey cheered and she ran up to the stage to stand beside London.

Bailey smiled as both hers and London's crowns were placed on their heads, and she pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket. "Thank you, thank you. I can't wait to share this at show and tell. If my grown-up teeth don't grow in bucked, then all my dreams will have come true."

Everyone in the crowd glanced around looking confused so Bailey clarified. "I wrote this when I was five, and before I went to the orthodontist." Bailey clarified, but the feelings are still true.

"Alright, here we go. Mr. Mosby said as he pulled out a giant cape made of corn husks.

"Oh, the corn husk cape!" Bailey said in awe.

London though had a different reaction. "Ew, what is that?"

"It's a cape made of corn leaves, London." Mr. Mosby explained, "and Cody told me it's tradition."

"Not on me it's not. I don't wear anything that doesn't cost at least $500!" London pouted and ran off the stage.

"Ok then, so uh Bailey do you want the cape?" Mr. Mosby asked.

"Mr. Mosby, I would be honored." Bailey smiled even brighter as he placed the cape around her shoulders. Even more now this was turning into the best night ever.

The crowd kept on clapping for Bailey, and Cody for one, was so happy about tonight, just seeing the smile on Bailey's face again after the last few days of his homesickness and misery was worth it, even if he had corn stuck in his teeth from his attempts to bob, and his arm was still sore from when Bailey had sent him to the floor during their arm wrestling match.

Once everything calmed down again, Bailey suddenly had a thought, tonight had been so amazing, it felt just like being back home. Not for the first time that week Bailey let another thought creep into her head…one that she didn't know the answer to. She loved being on the ship, but she also hated having to constantly hide herself…there were several ways she could attempt to fix it, but she needed someone's advice first.


Eventually, she found Cody again and smiled at him as she walked up to him, and he was smiling right back at her just as brightly, but it was clear to Cody he was putting on some kind of façade.

"Hey Cody," Bailey said quietly.

"Hey, Bailey." Cody said back, "What's wrong?" he asked, sounding worried.

"Oh nothing, I just have a really big decision to make."

"I'd go with the rhubarb pie over the apple. The filling's runny."

"Yeah, I noticed." Bailey nodded her head in agreement. "But that's not it. This night had been amazing but earlier this week I was thinking about going back to Kettlecorn."

"So, what are you going to do," Cody asked, feeling dread pooling in his stomach, all week all he had wanted was to make Bailey feel better, but the idea of him leaving…he was his best friend already, maybe not as close as he was to Zack yet, but they understood each other so well already. It was like he finally found a missing piece to his life he hadn't even known he'd be missing, but now suddenly he was going to go away… Cody didn't even know what he was feeling all he knew was that he didn't like it.

"I don't know." Bailey shook her head and looked into Cody's eyes. "I trust your judgment, Cody. What do you think I should do? Go home, or stay?"

"I'll tell you what you should do, you should st-" Cody began, but looking at Bailey he knew exactly what he wanted to say, but the words didn't feel right. "I think you should follow your heart," he said instead.

"You know what? You're absolutely right." Bailey nodded at him with a smile. "Thank you, Cody."

"So are you leaving?" Cody asked, after a long moment of silence between them.

"Heck no!"

"Yes!" Cody cheered and then smiled a bit awkwardly.

Bailey just shrugged him off, "Sure I miss Kettlecorn, but I love my life here at Seven Seas High. There are so many great adventures out there, and I don't want to miss them."

"Oh, thank God." Cody sighed, "I was so afraid you were going to leave me, I mean the ship! Leave the ship!" Cody rushed to correct himself.

"I could never do that, I would miss you," Bailey said, and then she hurried to backpedal as well. "And all of my other friends."

"You'd miss me, along with your other friends?" Cody asked.

"Of course, and I can never thank you enough for doing all of this for me," Bailey said.

"Well, you can try sometime. Anything you want to do, I'm sure I'll love it just as much as I hope you loved this."

Bailey let another thought enter her mind, and this time it was easy for her to make the decision. "Cody actually, there's something I need to tell you," Bailey whispered to him.

"Ok, what is it?" Cody asked, confused by the shift in tone, whatever this was sounded very serious.

"Not here, let's head back to our cabin," Bailey told him.

"Sure thing, whatever you need." Cody nodded. Cody helped Bailey gather up all his stuffed animal prizes and they quickly returned to their room.

"So what do you need to tell me?" Cody asked, "It isn't something bad, is it?"

"No, not at all. At least I don't think it's bad, but if everyone else knew it would cause a lot of problems." Bailey, said, "Ever since my first day here, you've helped make this my new home, and even more tonight, I know I can trust you, Cody, just promise me, what I'm about to tell you has to stay a secret, or else I will have to leave the ship and head home."

Cody paused; he had no idea what secret he could be hiding that could force him to leave the ship no matter what it was. Cody would do anything to keep that from happening. "Bailey, you have my word. I promise whatever your secret is, it will be safe with me. I wouldn't ever do anything that could force you to leave."

"Thank you, Cody," Bailey then removed her corn husk cape, and then took off her crown setting both on her desk. Now it was time for the moment of truth. She put her hands on her cowboy hat that she had kept on beneath her crown the entire night, and then lifted the hat, then unpinned her long, dirty blonde hair, letting it fall free down her back.

She then looked up at Cody, and his eyes were the size of dinner plates.

"Dude, you're a Girl!"