My first Zack and Cody fic *claps* !!
I don't own Zack or Cody, or Dylan and Cole for that matter (coz if I did none of you guys would ever see them again LOL).
But I DO own Riley the bully. So there :P
R&R. Good job (Y)
"Zack wake up!"
Zack jumped at the sound of Cody's voice and cringed as his twin pulled open the blinds, letting the early morning sun stream into their bedroom.
"Ugh, it can't be seven already can it?" Came a barely understandable complaint from Zack.
"Actually, it's almost seven thirty." Cody replied. "You slept in. Again"
"Oh. Well do you wana' give me another ten minutes or so?"
"Zack!"
"Shh Cody." He said sarcastically. "It' sleepy time."
Cody rolled his eyes at Zack's smart aleck attitude. But luckily for him, there was always one way of getting his lazy older brother out of bed. He sighed and then leapt right towards Zack, particularly his ticklish spots. Zack yelped with laughter as the unmerciful attack began.
"Remember Zack, you made me do this."
"Ok, ok!" Zack managed to get out through all the screams and tears of laughter rolling down his face. "I'm up!" Then, gathering all the strength he possibly could, he pushed Cody off the bed, looked down at him and began laughing again.
"You are such a dork!" He said, wiping the tears from his eyes and throwing a pillow at Cody.
"Well if you don't get ready in about five minutes, you're the one who's going to look like a dork when you're at school in your pyjamas." He retorted, chucking the pillow back. "So move it."
"So move it." Zack said mockingly as Cody made his way to the door of their bedroom. He turned around and glared at Zack, trying to remain stern faced. But of course, it didn't work. They grinned at each other, which they always seemed to be doing nowadays, before Cody placed his hand on the door knob and twisted it, opening the door.
"I'll be waiting in the lobby."
The moment Cody left the room, Zack hastily set about getting ready for school. School; one thing that Zack hadn't exactly been worrying about lately. Spring break had come to a close last week which sucked, but apart from that everything was actually enjoyable for once. After blitzing Summer school, he was finding English class a lot easier. He was also improving heaps with his basketball, being the team's star free thrower and all, and he was making heaps of new friends in the process too. Things had changed. Well, most things anyway.
"Forgot my text book." Cody announced as he raced back into the room, grabbed his book, and then left again.
Zack couldn't help but smile at Cody. He always had to make sure he was so organised with everything. It made Zack think that Cody would go completely insane if he were to lose his packet of paper clips or something. Kind of annoying, but one of those weird little qualities that made Cody who he was. That was one of those things that hadn't changed. Not only Cody's neat and tidy personality, but his relationship with Zack. The two of them always thought it was strange that people said they'd end up growing apart. Sure they were 15 now and they weren't living out of each other's pockets like they did when they were 12, but they were still as close as ever. And that was just the way Zack liked it.
"Zack!" Came a call from the living room, snapping him out of his train of thought. "Hurry up honey! You'll miss the bus!"
"Coming Mum!" Zack yelled back while picking up his bag (which happened to be half empty mind you), and made his way to through the door to the living room.
"Morning sweetie."
"Morning Mum."
"Have a good day at school. Love you!"
"Love you too."
The typical routine; Zack stumbled out of the suite saying a quick hi to Carey before racing down to the lobby to meet Cody at the bus stop. Cody on the other hand would always make sure to eat a well balanced breakfast and double check all of his homework was done, way before Zack even thought about getting up. No wonder he was the one who had always excelled in his school work.
Zack started to speed up as he hurriedly headed towards the bus stop just down the road from the Tipton.
"Your lucky the bus is late this morning." Cody stated upon Zack's arrival.
"You know me Codester, I haven't missed the bus once…"
"This week?"
Zack shot a death stare at Cody's interruption. "I was getting to that part!"
"Suuure you were."
Cody let this last bit of sarcasm slide out as the bus rolled up next to the twins and came to a slow stop. Zack climbed aboard, while Cody struggled with the awkwardly stacked pile of books he was attempting to carry. The two of them then took their usual seat about five rows back from the front as the long yellow vehicle resumed its journey to the boy's school.
So, so far the day had panned out quite normally. Same wake up call, same rush for the bus, and same seats. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. Or so Zack and Cody had both began to think before the bus driver pulled up at one more stop than usual. Which really only meant one thing…
"A new kid?" Zack pointed out un-necessarily.
The boy who stepped onto the bus was tallish, and was tan with dark hair. His left eye brow was pierced and he had a Nike backpack slung over his shoulder. He then made his way down the aisle in the centre of the bus, and eventually plonked himself down behind the twins. Now not to judge a book by it's cover or anything, but that's exactly what Zack chose to do, and was just about to turn his attention to Cody and tell him not to be the friendly person he was and say hi…
"Hiya! I'm Cody and this is my brother Zack."
…too late.
"I'm Riley."
Wow Zack thought to himself, and here I was thinking this kid was some kind of hard core lad, but he's already got one sentence out without biting Cody's head off. "So Riley," he then said out loud, "what school are you from?"
"Belmont High. I had to leave though. Hopefully this school will be better for me."
"Well I'm sure you'll have no problems." Cody continued before his engrossment in Riley was then directed towards the floor and the pair of white rabens he was wearing. "As long as you change your shoes!"
"Excuse me?" Riley snapped at him.
"Oh nothing, it's just they're a safety hazard and the teachers will probably ask you to change them anyway and…"
"And!" Zack suddenly cut in. "It's really none of Cody's business right?"
"My thoughts exactly." Riley quickly agreed with Zack with a sort of half smirk aiming at Cody, who undoubtedly would have said something else if the bus hadn't come to a sudden jerk and stopped.
Zack let out a sigh of relief as Riley jumped out of his seat and stepped off the bus. He couldn't help but feel a bit weary around him. Perhaps it was just because of the way he looked, but one thing Zack knew for sure was that he was going to have to tell Cody to keep his distance. Cody, however, didn't seem to have a care in the world as he carefully balanced his pile of books while tip-toeing down the bus steps. He had just about made it too, until he walked passed his new buddy Riley, who stealthily stuck his leg out, tripping Cody and causing him and his text books to go flying. He gazed up at Riley who snarled at him, laughing. By now Zack had caught up to his brother, but like everyone else, hadn't seen what had really happened.
"You really do have no co-ordination do you?"
"Err, yeah. My bad." Cody said, sounded extremely daunted. He wiped a nervous sweat from his brow as Zack casually bent down to help him pick up all of his belongings. But his feelings of immediate intimidation and slight worry were abruptly interrupted by the bell ringing.
"Ahh crud." Zack suddenly exclaimed. "Sorry Cody, but I can't be late for home room again. You're alright to pick up this stuff aye?"
"That's alright Zack," came a jolted addition to conversation from Riley, "I'll help him pick everything up."
"Really?" Zack asked in confusion. He still hadn't exactly figured out why he didn't trust Riley, but making the simple offer couldn't have been that much of a bad thing. Could it? "Ok then, thanks man." He said, repaying the smile that Riley was shooting at him. "See ya' later Cody."
As soon as Zack had disappeared into the building, Riley turned back to Cody, the smile still wide (and kind of creepy) on his face. Ok Cody he told himself, just chill out. Maybe it was an accident.
"I knew it." Riley said, still laughing at Cody.
"Knew what?" Cody asked him in reply, gulping after the words left his lips.
"I knew you'd be the new Billy." Riley answered him, but leaving many open ends in doing so.
"Billy? Who's Billy?"
Riley's taunting proceeded at the obvious tone of fright in Cody's voice. "Billy is the reason I got kicked out of my old school."
Cody's eyes widened at all the different explanations that popped into his head after hearing that Riley had been kicked out of Belmont High.
"I always thought that him and I had a good understanding of each other." He continued, "I'd tell him to give me something or do something for me and he'd do it. But one day, he decided to stand up to me. That's when I got angry."
A giant knot formed in the pit of Cody's stomach as these final words slipped out from under Riley's breath. His cold, harsh breath that was followed by another evil looking smile. "But I don't think we'll have that problem will we Cody?"
Cody instantly shook his head from where he kneeled on the ground as Riley increasingly maintained his height towering over him. "Good." He spat out clearly and bitterly. Cody's tense muscles slowly began to relax again at the sight of Riley turning around and heading towards the same building that Zack had entered.
"Oh and one more thing." He commenced again, this time sounding more conclusive. "I also hate it when people think that they can go around telling everyone else that I'm such a 'bad guy'. So don't even think about getting Zack to swoop in and save you, got it?"
The closing statement shot like daggers off his tongue as all Cody did was continue to watch him, nodding every time he felt appropriate. But then Riley was well and truly gone. Well, for now anyway, leaving Cody with nothing but two things to think about; 1: Why had Riley chosen him as the new 'Billy'? And 2: What exactly was he planning for the next time their paths crossed?