A/N: So, I'm back with a new story. This is part one of four, so I guess you could call it a "four-shot" if that suits your fancy. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, nor do I own the rights to Apple's iPod, though I do listen to mine obsessively.
PART ONE
"Hurry up."
"Hold on! This stuff takes time. I gotta make sure I get the right one."
Cody sighed, folding his arms over his chest and wrapping his scarf tighter around his neck. "Zack," he said, trying to remain calm. "It's a guitar pick. We're not curing cancer."
Zack waved him off and Cody groaned, sinking down onto an uncomfortable chair. It was warm inside the music store, which was the only good thing about being forced to wait. Outside it was snowing and windy and utterly freezing, and Cody had always been more of an autumn person.
In his backpack he was wearing he carried all the books he had needed for his six classes (except the gym class he'd been forced to take, which generally consisted of him trying to stay invisible). Sophomore year had brought about biology, and advanced algebra, and debate…Plenty of classes he'd been wanting to take.
"Okay, what do you think of this one?" Zack held up a black pick with a jagged white line cutting through it. Cody raised a brow.
"Does it matter what it looks like?" he asked, not seeing the significance. "Your fingers cover it up anyway when you play."
Zack scowled and took out his wallet, grabbing three more picks undoubtedly to prove to his twin brother that the appearance of such an object did indeed matter. "Wouldn't expect you to understand, anyway," he said, paying for his purchase and grabbing the plastic bag.
As they left the store the little bell above the door dinged. Cody stifled a yawn. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded, a little offended. He'd always been a little too sensitive.
Zack shrugged, pocketing the supplies and tossing the bag on the ground. Cody frowned and stopped to pick it up and put it in a garbage can. "It's one bag, man," said Zack, rolling his eyes. "Not gonna kill the environment."
"No, but when five million other people say the same thing we get global warming and pollution and unsafe conditions which causes lots of today's medical problems like asthma and toxin poisoning which increases our chances of ge-,"
"-Aw, save it," Zack said, taking out his iPod and plugging the little headphones in his ears. "This is what I mean, dude. It's like, you spend all your time on crap statistics like that and then you miss out on real life."
"But that is real life," Cody said defensively. "It's true. When you litter, sooner of later everything suffers."
Zack turned up the volume and Cody narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "All I know," he said loudly, causing several passerbys to look at him strangely. "Is that you may save the world, or whatever, but people like you'll never actually be part of it."
"And you are?" Cody asked him, raising a brow.
Zack didn't answer, and the snow began to fall harder and the wind picked up speed. Both boys zipped up their jackets and Cody tightened his scarf as Zack pulled down his hat to cover his ears.
Cody reached out a gloved hand and pressed pause on the iPod. Zack looked at him indignantly. "What're you-,"
"-We gotta walk faster!" Cody shouted above the wind. "Beat the storm!"
Zack sneezed. "'Kay," he said, wiping his nose and sniffing. "But I think it's a little t…" his voice was swallowed by the wind and Cody leaned closer.
"What?" he said as loud as he could.
Zack replied, but Cody couldn't make out any words so he just grabbed his brother's arm and dragged him in an ally under the cover of some fire escapes. "I think we should stay here until the storm dies down," he said, lowering his voice as they escaped the white-out.
"Good idea," Zack agreed, sneezing again.
"You have a cold?"
Zack nodded. "It sucks."
Cody nodded sympathetically and leaned against the brick of one of the buildings. Out of their little hideaway it was pure white, cars had pulled over and people had ducked into boutiques and apartments for shelter. The wind was on a roll; whipping at anything in its path mercilessly and howling furiously as the world. The snow was icy and it clung to their jackets like thorns.
After ten minutes of no change and Zack groaned and rolled his head over to look at his brother. "It's not stopping," he said, stating the obvious as was his specialty.
"It will," Cody assured him, pulling his gloves up further and rubbing them together to generate heat. Science class always paid off in the end. Zack began to mimic him, stopping to take one off and wipe his hand underneath his nose, which was red with the cold.
"Here," said Cody, handing him a Kleenex.
"Thanks," Zack mumbled, blowing his nose miserably. He crumpled up the tissue and tossed it at a trash can a few feet away. It missed.
Cody looked at it, not saying anything.
Zack gave another sniff before sticking his hand back in his glove and meandering over, sticking the trash where it rightfully belonged. Cody smiled slightly and suddenly wished he'd worn boots instead of sneakers to school. The snow that had fallen into them had melted, and now his feet were beginning to feel numb.
Zack returned to their wall and sunk down against it so that he was squatting, hands going up to cover his face. Cody stared out at street, which was still hidden behind the curtain of white confetti spilled by the skies. Another strong gust of wind tore through, making Cody shiver and Zack cough.
"We just gonna stay in here 'til it stops?" Zack demanded after another ten minutes passed by with no change.
Cody shrugged. "Until we can see where we're going."
Zack sighed shortly. "This is boring." He complained. "And my frickin' iPod's out of batteries." He folded his arms moodily and sniffed.
"It should end soon." Said Cody, trying to sound more confident than he felt.
Twenty minutes passed, and now not only was the blizzard still raging full force, but it had started to get dramatically darker. Zack had sat down and wrapped his arms around his knees which he had drawn up to his chin in an attempt to conserve body heat. He said nothing, but occasionally emitted a sneeze or a cough.
Cody had folded his arms tightly and pulled up the hood of his jacket to cover his ears, as he tried to ignore the fact that he could not only see the remains of his last breath hanging in the air, but the breath before that, and before that, and before that…
Zack sneezed again, loudly, and Cody crouched down to check on him. Like his brother, he'd pulled over the hood which provided extra insulation when added to the winter hat he was already wearing.
"How's your cold?" Cody asked him as the wind howled again.
Zack shuddered. His nose, chin, and cheekswere red and his eyes were rimmed with the color as well and watered slightly. "Still sucks," he answered, sounding stuffed up. Cody sighed sympathetically and sat down next to him.
"Maybe we should call mom," he said after another five minutes. Zack nodded and reached into his pocket as if to pull out his cell phone. Apparently finding nothing he grinned apologetically at Cody, who dug into his eyes with his palms. "Crap," he said. "I don't have mine either."
"Great." Zack said shortly. "Just wonderful."
Cody groaned and kicked at some frozen snow. "Man, if you hadn't 'needed' to stop at that music store we'd be home by now."
"What?" Zack turned to him indignantly. "You were the one who waited fifteen minutes after school before we could even go-,"
"-I had to ask a question about my history project!" Cody cut in defensively. "Not my fault I actually care about school." He added grumpily.
Zack rolled his eyes and laughed sarcastically. "Oh, shut up, man. You think you're all, I dunno, important 'cuz you get school. But like I said before. You have no life."
Cody watched his breath hang before his face. "Whatever," he said moodily. "If what you have is called a life, than I definitely don't want one."
Zack looked at him in surprise. "Ouch!" he exclaimed. "Dang, man, that was mean!" Cody smirked and buried down deeper in his jacket. "The cold makes you a jerk, apparently."
Cody blew out his icy breath. "Sorry," he said. "We shouldn't argue. That's not helping anything." And he tightened his scarf.
"AH-CHOO!"
Cody snapped his eyes opened and turned to look at his brother who sat, huddled up and shivering. Cody had given him the entire mini package of Kleenex and it lay used up at his feet.
"Come on," he said, grabbing Zack's arm and pulling him to his feet. "We gotta get home. You're gonna get pneumonia if we stay out here."
Zack sniffed and brushed a hand over his draining eyes. "Yeah, but what about the blizzard?" he looked out past Cody, who turned to see the thick white curtain still there, and still in full throttle.
"We know the way." He answered with trepidation. "We'll just be careful."
"'Kay," Zack sniffled, and they started out of the ally, shouldering their backpacks.
"We should find a store with a payphone," said Cody, voice rising as they reached the edge of the shelter. "So mom doesn't worry."
They slowly stepped out, and were quickly enveloped in a mad rush of snow. It blew in all direction, chaotic, messy, and confusing as it landed on their feet. Inches upon inches lay on the icy ground, and the wind tore bitterly through the freezing air. Cody squinted his eyes as the snow stung them, and quickly craned his neck to find Zack. "WE HAVE TO STAY TOGETHER," he shouted.
Zack might've nodded, might've said something, but Cody heard nothing but the wind. He felt a sudden pressure on his backpack and when he turned to look he saw that Zack had grabbed onto the handle. Flashing a thumbs up he knew nobody could see (heck, he couldn't even see the gesture very clearly) he started to walk slowly, cautiously, towards some unknown destination.
"…RIGHT WAY?" Zack's voice was half droned out by the weather, but Cody caught his meaning and stopped to think.
"HOPE SO!" he answered back, a new seed of fear planted in his stomach, churning it uneasily.
He didn't even want to think of the consequences they would face if the Tipton wasn't right up the block.
But he should have.
To Be Continued
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