"Dude, you're a Girl!" Cody said as he looked at his roommate in shock. Tonight had been all about trying to help his roommate and best friend on the ship feel better, but now, Cody didn't even know what to think. As Cody watched Bailey's long, dirty-blonde hair cascade down his or rather her shoulders, that fact was abundantly clear. Was he just blind? So that was why he had never seen him without a hat or a hoodie covering up his hair, no matter what they were doing? And other things began to click into place too. Why his voice seemed to shift between high pitched or like he was trying to force it lower? Cody had just been assuming he was eager for puberty to hit his vocal cords. The bathroom schedule and sheet across their room also made sense if Bailey wanted to make sure she always had privacy.
Wait a minute, that meant Cody had been living and sleeping in the same room with a girl for the past month. He hadn't done anything to embarrass himself had he? But he also recognized her now. The picture he had seen on the background of her phone had indeed been Bailey, and while looking at Bailey always made him feel weird for some reason, he couldn't ignore how much his brain was telling him she was absolutely beautiful.
"Yeah Cody, I am a girl, but please just let me explain," Bailey begged him, breaking him out of the cascade of thoughts spinning in his head.
"Um of course, I'm all ears," Cody replied, still feeling slightly dazed, but also eager for Bailey to answer some of the questions swirling around his head.
"Ok so, you see, when I applied to Seven Seas High all the girls' spots were already full, and once I got the idea in my head of leaving Kettlecorn to travel the world I had to take it, and thankfully my name is a boy's name too, so I applied as a boy to get on the ship, and it worked. But then I knew I couldn't let anyone on board know the real me or else Mr. Mosby would send me back home.
"So no one else knows?" Cody asked.
"No one, not even my parents. Even with the scholarship I got for having the best admissions essay it still took me a week of begging my parents to let me leave home. If they knew what I've had to do, they'd bring me back to the farm so fast my head would be spinning."
"Then why are you telling me?"
"Because Cody," Bailey reached out and placed her hand on top of his, unknowingly sending weird jolts of happiness between them both. "Like I told you earlier, ever since my first day here, you've done everything you could to help make this place my new home. Beyond just studying with you, which has been amazing, I've never had anyone who shares so many interests with me. Trust me there is no one else in Kettlecorn I can go watch foreign films, or spend all night in a library or science lab as we both learn about whatever we're interested in. But most of all, what you did for me tonight showed me how much you care about me, and even more, your advice to follow my heart. I know I belong here, and if there's one person I don't want to lie to anymore, it's you."
"Bailey, I uh…" Cody felt himself tripping over his words as he processed everything Bailey was telling him. "First off, I promise your secret's safe with me. If anyone else finding out will lead to you leaving me… I mean the ship." Cody corrected himself awkwardly and felt his face heating up. "I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen."
"You'd do that for me? Even keep it from Zack?"
Cody smirked, "It won't be the first secret I've kept from Zack. And considering how great a roommate you are compared to him, it's no contest. I won't tell anyone, and I'll even do what I can to help you keep the secret."
"Cody, thank you so much." Bailey smiled brightly and then leaned in close to pull him into a hug with her chin resting over his shoulder, both melting into the hug and possibly holding on just a few moments longer than strictly necessary before pulling away. "Once I got to know you, I've been thinking about telling you for a while, but I think I've known for a while that I can trust you."
"Well, you can. So don't worry." Cody replied.
"So, do you have any more questions? Knowing you, you must be full of them right now."
"Honestly I don't know, I feel like I've already got the answers to a lot of my questions, like the sheet up at night, the bathroom schedule, your clothes and voice, those all make a lot more sense already."
"Yeah," Bailey nodded, "so have you suspected anything?"
"You mean did I ever have any idea you could be a girl? No." Cody shook his head. "That thought never even crossed my mind. The bathroom and sheet situation, I could understand after living with Zack for fifteen years. And how sometimes you'd forget to disguise your voice as much, so it was higher, I just assumed that was one of the pitfalls of puberty. That and your face."
"What about my face?" Bailey asked, looking genuinely curious.
"Oh um…" Cody stuttered for a few moments, just what did he mean by that, and how was he supposed to answer? "Honestly in the back of my head, I always thought your face didn't look quite like a guy's, but again I just attributed that to not going through puberty yet, but now it all makes sense, once I finally saw your hair, it's pretty clear that you are indeed a girl." He kind of wanted to say more, but there was no way he could call her cute five minutes after finding out she was a girl.
"OK, but do you think anyone else has noticed?"
"I don't think so, I mean I'm pretty sure I'm the one person you spend the most time with on the ship, and I had no real idea until now. Everyone else, I doubt it. You know Zack has even said he thinks you're my real twin brother since we're so much more alike."
Bailey laughed at that, "Alright thanks, and if I did have any brothers, it would be great if they were like you." Bailey smiled at him again.
"So other than your real gender, any other secrets you've been keeping from me?"
"Nope, I promise that's it," Bailey replied.
"OK, but I do have to ask, have I done anything embarrassing in the past month that you think I wouldn't have wanted to do if I knew you were a girl?"
Bailey laughed, but then her voice turned serious again. "No, don't worry Cody. I haven't seen anything that you should be embarrassed about. The sheet up at night helps, and I promise if you've ever been changing your clothes or anything I always made sure to look away. I wouldn't want to peep at you and make you uncomfortable either."
"OK good." Cody sighed in relief.
"Cody, the thing I was most worried about coming on the ship was having to live with a boy for the first time. Like I told you, I have nine sisters and zero brothers, and to be honest, I wouldn't trust any of the boys in Kettlecorn as far as I could throw them with something like this, but you've always been nothing but a kind and perfect gentleman to me, even when you thought I was just another one of the guys. And don't even get me started on the bathroom, I'm pretty sure that place is more sterile than the ship's infirmary. It's been great having you as a roommate Cody. I lucked out there, I doubt I would have been able to stand living with Zack or Woody for instance."
"Ok, thank you, Bailey, I'm just happy I never made you uncomfortable."
"No, not at all. The only times I've been uncomfortable have been when I've had to lie to you about myself, but I won't do that anymore. I promise."
"Good, I'm glad. So now that the secret's out between us, is anything going to change around here? Or anything you want me to do differently?"
Bailey thought over his offer for a moment, "Well, if it's just the two of us in here, I'll probably let my hair down so you can see the real me. Plus now I can stop sleeping in hats and hoodies so that'll be good. I don't know, I've kept all my girl clothes and hygiene stuff in the bathroom hidden so you couldn't find it, but I suppose I can relax around you now."
"OK, and do you still want to keep the bathroom schedule and sheet? Which I have no problem with by the way."
"I think it's alright if we don't stick to the schedule religiously," Bailey decided, "and we both always change our clothes in the bathroom, and always remember to knock just to make sure neither of us walks in on something on accident. And as for the sheet, I trust you Cody, if it's alright with you let's take it down, but if either of us ever wants to put it up again, we can, no questions asked."
"That sounds fine with me but if I do cause any problem just tell me and we can come to a solution together." Cody agreed, and Bailey reached up to takedown the string from the wall.
"Of course, I know we can." Bailey agreed too. "Is there anything you want me to change?"
"No need. It's been great living with you so far Bailey, you just do whatever you need to do and it'll be fine with me, and if I ever think of anything in the future, I'll be sure to let you know."
"Alright. Thank you again, Cody." Bailey smiled at him one more time. "So…"
"So…" Cody said as well, now that the secret was out they gradually ran out of things to talk about. "Would you look at the time, it's getting pretty late. Are you ready for bed?"
"Oh yeah, I'm ready to hit the hay." Bailey agreed. They each took a turn in the bathroom and then happily got settled beneath each of their blankets.
"Goodnight Bailey," Cody said, smiling across the room at Bailey for the first time all semester.
"Goodnight Cody." Bailey smiled back at him in the darkness. Then they both turned over and despite no more sheets or secrets standing between them, they were both fast asleep within a few moments. It may have been a big shock to Cody's system initially, but he knew that it was still the same Bailey across from him, so he had no more worries that would prevent him from getting a good night's sleep.
The next morning both woke up just like normal, Bailey might have had a brief moment of panic about Cody seeing the real her when she woke up and there was no sheet between them. But all it took was for him to smile happily at her, and she remembered the night before and settled her nerves.
They left their cabin with plenty of time to grab breakfast before class just like normal and like usual they were the first ones in the classroom so they took their seats and just chatted some more about how fun last night was, and they were so engrossed in their conversation they hardly noticed when Ms. Tutwiler walked in the room, and at this point in the semester she had gotten used to Cody and Bailey beating her to the classroom every day.
So she just walked past them with a wave hello and headed to her desk to get herself organized for the day, but as she did so, she couldn't help noticing there was something different about the way Cody and Bailey were looking at each other, she couldn't put her finger on it specifically, but given what Mr. Mosby had told her about last night she could make a guess.
"Bailey, I'm so happy to see you're feeling better now." Ms. Tutwiler spoke up, interrupting the roommate's discussion of their favorite corn dishes from last night.
"Oh yeah, last night was just what I needed." Bailey agreed and smiled brightly at Cody. "Cody's the best guy a gir- guy could ask for," Bailey said.
"Anything for you, I just wanted you to be happy again." Cody smiled back at him just as brightly.
"And you know it worked," Bailey said, both of them looked at each other with eyes full of care and happiness for the other.
"I'm so glad you two have worked out as roommates so well." Ms. Tutwiler smiled back at them, and they turned their attention back to her. "Plus I know I say this every time, but wonderful work on your school work so far, keep it up."
"Thank you Ms. Tuttwieler, and trust us we aren't planning on changing anytime soon," Cody said and Bailey nodded along with him.
"Yes, if only some of your enthusiasm translated to our other students," Ms. Tutwiler sighed, "namely London and your neighbors across the hall."
"Well, I hate to break it to you, but for better or worse I'm pretty sure Zack and Woody are just as compatible as we are." Cody added to Bailey, "Oh by the way, I went into their room yesterday to get them to help me set everything up, and I have to say, mulch would be a definite improvement over the current aroma in their room."
"Thanks for warning me," Bailey said with all seriousness.
Gradually more and more students filtered into the classroom and everyone else began their days. Class proceeded like normal, with Cody and Bailey raising their hands to answer every question Ms. Tutwiler asked, which usually led to Ms. Tutwiler having to eventually interrupt their far too detailed explanations. But whenever they didn't have their hands raised or were actively taking notes, both of them couldn't help but steal glances at the other, but neither ever seemed to notice the other. Nor did any of their classmates notice.
Neither really consciously realized they were doing anything different, but they were, and they'd already shared plenty of knowing glances between themselves during classes, but this was something new.
Their day continued as normal. No one else was ever the wiser, least of all each other as they spent all their classes and lunch period together until school let out in the afternoon, it was only when they were apart that Cody had to go to his shift as towel boy that both finally realized the difference.
Cody's shift was just as boring and disgusting as usual, but in between laundry loads he got to thinking, he missed Bailey right now, even more than usual. It was then he also realized this past month was probably the most time he had spent with a girl ever, and he hadn't even known it. He'd never spent this much time with even Irma or Barbara. And despite the shock of that revelation last night, he still felt completely comfortable around Bailey. It was obvious that she truly trusted him and liked him for being himself, and now that she told him everything, he liked her still for all the same reasons he had liked her before.
But also, now that he had seen the real her, he seriously wondered if he needed glasses, and probably everyone else on the ship. Bailey wasn't just pretty, she was beautiful. And how had he not realized the picture on her cell phone had been her? He'd had the same thought then too, but now seeing her in person. Cody didn't know how to think about this. Bailey had been his best friend before, and maybe even more now… but since she was a girl…could it be possible that they could be more than friends…maybe even boyfriend and girlfriend?
Cody had to stop and think about this. He wasn't Zack, he couldn't just start hitting on her the second he found out she was a girl. How would she ever respect him? And the last thing he wanted to do now was anything that would make her uncomfortable living with him, or even worse regret that she had trusted him. Cody just kept going in circles in his head he could admit to himself how much he wanted to be more with Bailey but he couldn't imagine Bailey would want to date him, and certainly not so soon after telling him everything. Maybe if he waited six months, and slowly got her to like him back would be the best course of action. Yeah, he could do that. Cody started slowly outlining his new plan in his head, but he knew he'd need to flesh this out and start writing things down tonight if he wanted everything to be perfect.
But unknown to Cody, Bailey was slowly realizing the same thing. She put off doing her homework for a few hours because it was always more enjoyable working with Cody, usually, she would do all her reading assignments beforehand and then work on the homework assignments when Cody came back, but today she was more distracted than usual, and she was thinking about Cody.
In the past 18 or so hours since she told him, she didn't regret her choice for a moment. He still acted just as kind and respectfully to her as before, in fact maybe even a bit more so as he had stepped forward to open all the doors for her today. He was so sweet, she should probably make sure to tell him he didn't have to treat her any differently than before just because she was a girl.
Or did she? She could admit to herself now, that Cody wasn't only cute with his gorgeous blue eyes, brilliant smile, and clean-cut blond hair, but he was actually quite handsome, even if he was much scrawnier than most of the boys back in Kettlecorn, Bailey didn't care in the slightest. She let loose a train of thought she had carefully kept tied down for the last month. Cody was already her best friend but could they maybe be something more? She knew she had been crushing on him hard, it was a wonder he'd never caught her staring at him in class or when they were working on homework together. But she could never let him know that before now, but now that her real identity was out in the open…could they be more than friends? Or would that be weird? Bailey was honestly fine with living with Cody like this, and Cody had said the same thing, but what if bringing romance into the equation just made everything collapse? The last thing she wanted to do was make things awkward between them, but also…even now Cody already felt like the missing part of her life she had been searching forever for, but they could still be so much better. It was a question of should they, or should they not? Unfortunately, this wasn't a question of math or logic. Cody had told her to listen to her heart last night, and she did, how could she possibly ignore what her heart was still telling her? She just didn't know.
Bailey was broken out of her reverie when her cell phone started ringing on her nightstand, so she quickly answered it. "Hello?"
"Hey there Sweetie, how've you been?" Bailey could easily recognize her mom's voice on the other end of the line.
"Oh hi Mama. Things are going good."
"I'm sure they are, how was last night?"
"Last night?" Bailey asked, for a moment she was paranoid that her mom somehow knew everything.
"Yeah, the Mulch festival Cody put on for you?"
"Oh right of course, yes that was super amazing." Bailey sighed in happiness, "It was just like being back home. Cody and everyone else made sure absolutely everything was perfect. They even all elected me Corn Kin- I mean Queen."
"Oh, I'm so happy to hear that. Cody made sure to grab every detail when she called me. But Bailey I have a question I need to ask you."
"Sure thing Mama," Bailey replied.
"Now in all your letters home you said your roommate was named Katie, but she introduced herself as Cody and right now you've been saying Cody too."
"Oh did I?" Bailey asked nervously.
"Yes, and now it may have been her eastern accent or the phone but not to be rude, but her voice seemed pretty deep for a teenage girl. Can you explain that?"
"Um… yeah sorry about that, I think it's just her accent. I accidentally called her Katie for a week before I finally saw her write her name down on her homework." Bailey forced some laughter into her voice. "But yeah, it's Cody. And she is my best friend ever, all my friends pitched in, but I know she did most of the planning and work. I know she really cares about me."
"Oh alright then, but did last night help your homesickness?"
"Yeah, it helped a lot just being surrounded by all my favorite memories, but it was also spending time with all my new favorite people. I'll always love the farm and Kettlecorn, but right now I wouldn't change anything about where I am."
"OK, and everything else is still going well? Your homesickness hasn't affected your schoolwork has it?"
"No don't worry Mama, Cody, and I are already a month ahead, and Cody said it was ok for us to take a break for a few days, little did I know she was working on the mulch festival the whole time."
"Well, it sounds like you and Cody are thick as thieves."
"Yeah definitely, I can't imagine being on this ship without her. I wish more kids back in Kettlecorn were like her. Maybe you'll even meet her in person someday."
"Oh, I can't wait to see that. I'm just happy you're feeling better now, but beyond your homesickness have you had any issues?"
"No don't worry Mama, I-" Bailey stopped speaking for a moment when Cody walked in and smiled at her. "Oh Cody just came back from her shift as towel girl so now we're going to grab dinner and start our homework. Can I talk to you later?"
"Of course you can. I love you, Bailey."
"I love you too Mama. Goodbye."
Bailey hung up the phone and smiled at Cody. "So how was work, that was just my mom."
"Oh, you know the usual." Cody shrugged his shoulders. "At least there was no vomit today. I think Zack's finally getting the hang of the smoothie machines."
Bailey laughed at that. "Oh yeah, remind me to never get a smoothie while he's working."
"Oh don't worry, I'll keep you safe. But I have to ask, why am I a towel girl?"
"Oh, well turns out you almost gave everything away already when you called my mom this week to plan the festival. But I convinced her that you're a girl, and I accidentally called you Katie for a week before you corrected me." Bailey smiled.
"Oh I get it, I'm sure your parents wouldn't want you rooming with a hormonal teenage boy right?" Cody joked.
"Oh yeah, my dad especially, but Cody," Bailey reached from her bed to Cody's to place her hand on his shoulder. "I trust you completely Cody. There hasn't been a single moment since I've moved in that you've made me uncomfortable in the slightest."
"Thank you. Bailey, I'll do my best not to violate your trust. So yeah it's probably best if I don't talk to your mom and you don't call mine unless it's an absolute emergency. She'd probably freak out just as much as your parents would."
"Agreed." Bailey nodded. "But Cody, thank you again. For everything you've done for me." Bailey said, standing up from her bed to pull Cody in for a hug, that Cody happily returned.
"Of course Bailey. There's no need to thank me though, I'd want to help out any of my friends."
"I know, that's what makes you so great."
Cody and Bailey kept holding each other close for nearly a minute longer, neither was in any hurry to let go, because something about this just felt right to them it wasn't until they were startled by a loud knock on their door that they jumped apart.
"Yo Cody! You there?" They heard Zack call out from outside the door.
"Quick put your hoodie on," Cody whispered to Bailey as they both sprang into action. Cody headed to the door but didn't open it until Bailey was ready.
"Hey Zack, what do you need?"
"Well, you know that English paper we have due tomorrow I was wondering if…"
"No, I'm not letting you copy mine." Cody sighed, "Please tell me you've outlined yours."
Zack just laughed, "You do know me right? Come on please, and I won't be copying…I'll just be borrowing one of your old papers. I'm sure even the papers you wrote in middle school will be more than enough to score me an A so Mom's not on my case already."
"No Zack, you better head to the library and start studying, and if you want help, Bailey and I will be there after we eat dinner."
"Ooh, dinner does sound good, but fine. I guess I'll just try to knock it out tonight since my favorite brother in the whole world won't help his brother out." Zack said while trying to give Cody his best puppy dog eyes.
Cody just rolled his eyes in response. "Zack I'm your only brother, that line doesn't work and you know it."
"Worth a shot." Zack shrugged his shoulders. "But anyway, speaking of dinner mind if I join you guys?"
"Not a problem with me, Bailey?"
"It's fine, but you better not try to wheedle me for my homework."
"Duly noted." Zack sighed in defeat, "So let's go get some grub."
So that's what they did, even though both Cody and Bailey would much rather eat with just each other they let Zack, and eventually Woody join them, both secretly thought it might be for the best since it let them avoid the elephant in the room between them. Why their hug had lasted so long just before Zack interrupted them?
But while Zack was currently formulating a plan to borrow one of Cody's papers any way, he couldn't help but notice something was odd between the two of them. They just kept staring at each other, sending knowing glances across the table, and while knowing those two it was probably some smart science joke they had read about, or just being annoyed by his and Woody's constant antics but something was definitely off with his brother, and he would get to the bottom of it…eventually.
When they made it to the library, Zack and Woody managed to convince Cody and Bailey to at least help them out a little with their papers, and that they were willing to do, although if he and Woody followed their system there was no way they were going to finish tonight, so when Cody and Bailey got up to head to the bathroom together, Zack pulled Cody's laptop over to himself and got to work.
"What are you doing?" Woody asked.
"Borrowing one of Cody's papers, and don't worry Woodchuck, I can get you one too."
"Oh really? Do you know his password?"
"Of course I do. He's had the same password for everything since forever, watch and learn Woodchuck. B-L-A-N-K-I-E." Zack typed it in smugly but his look of confidence turned into dismay when the computer said wrong password.
"What? He changed his password?"
"Ooh, see if it gives you a hint."
"OK." Zack nodded his head and tapped the hint icon but all he got was. Nice Try Zack.
"Dang it. Cody's holding out on me." Zack groaned.
"Do you have any other ideas?"
"No." Zack shook his head, "if he changed it, it could be anything from a famous scientist to the answer to some dumb math equation. Well Woodchuck, looks like we'll have a long night ahead of us. But don't worry, I'll get Cody to spill his secrets eventually."
"Oh, maybe you could ask Bailey to find out for you."
"No way, have you seen Bailey? He's just as much of a goody-two-shoes nerd as Cody is. But fine, let them keep their secrets. They can't hide forever."