Chapter 3:

"Esteban?" Cody was astounded. "Where's Zack? Why are you here?"

"You see Mr. Cody," Esteban explained, "Mr. Zack told me to take care of you for today."

"Zack was supposed to stay here!" Cody exclaimed. Then he slapped his hand to his head. "Oh God, headache."

"Would you like for me to show you how to get better?"

"Is it that fat chicken cure?" Cody asked. "I don't want it."

Esteban looked extremely dejected. "Oh, I know Mr. Cody," he said, his spirits raising, "I will make you breakfast."

"That'd be nice," Cody told him, going to sit on a couch.

Esteban went to Carey's small kitchen counter and dug through some of the cupboards.

"Oh no," he said, quietly. He realized he didn't know what to give Cody for breakfast. This was time to call Zack.

He used the phone and dialed the number that Zack had left scrawled on a piece of notebook paper, and listened as the phone rang.

"Hey," it was Zack.

"Mr. Zack," Esteban said worriedly. "Mr. Cody is awake now and I do not know what to feed him right now…"

"Just go pull out the box of poptarts, ok, Esteban? And I told you not to call unless it was an emergency!" There were loud noises in the background, and Esteban suspected that Zack was at the theaters already.

"Ok, Mr. Zack. I apologize."

"Yeah, ok, whatever Esteban. Thanks by the way."

"No problem, Mr. Zack."

Esteban hung up and fished through the cupboards. "Noodles, Rice Krispies, a teddy bear," he held it up and hugged it, "ah, poptarts!"

He pulled the poptart out of the box, which was wrapped in a silver cover.

"Here Mr. Cody," he said, giving it to Cody, who was now resting on the couch.

"Poptarts!" Cody exclaimed when he saw the bag. "I can't eat poptarts for breakfast! They have no fiber source, no protein, no…"

"Ay yos mio," Esteban said worriedly. He called Zack again. "Mr. Zack, Cody will not eat the poptart."

"Tell him to eat it or you'll shove it up his…" Zack broke off, thinking better of it. "Tell him to eat it or else he can't have anything else. Feed it to him if you have to Esteban—he's sick, he has to eat."

Esteban hung up on Zack and went over where Cody was staring sullenly at the poptart casing. Esteban ripped it open and held it up to Cody. "Eat it, Mr. Cody. Mr. Zack says you need to eat something."

"No," said Cody flatly, turning away.

"Oh no," Esteban said worriedly, breaking the poptart in half, which happened to be blueberry. "Come on, Mr. Cody, eat it."

Cody didn't answer.

"Vroom, vroom," Esteban said, pushing the poptart through the air like it was a car. "The car wants to go through the tunnel, Mr. Cody."

"Do you think I'm five?" Cody opened his mouth to protest, and Esteban stuffed the poptart in. Cody tried to spit it out, but Esteban pushed his jaw up, and Cody had no choice but to swallow.

"No, I do not think you are so young, but my niece will eat if I do that. But you ate it, did you not, Mr. Cody?"

"Yeah, ok," Cody said, leaning into the couch. "I'm going to sleep now."

"Good for you, mi hijo," Esteban said. "Go to sleep now, Mr. Cody, if I may call you that." He began to sing a lullaby, and Cody opened his eyes in horror, so he stopped.

xxx

"Come on, kid," Maddie said, shoving Ty hard against the wall. "Say you like me! Say you like me more than London!"

"Are you kidding me?" Ty wanted to know. Maddie had dragged him up to the sixteenth floor and was now standing in the hallway yelling at him. "Why would I like somebody who basically kidnapped me? Are you some kind of child molester? Because you know, I do have a bodyguard."

"Oh, great job your bodyguard's doing," Maddie said sarcastically. "I saw him in the dining room, stuffing his face with cupcakes."

"Drat!" Ty muttered some expletives under his breath. "That's always been his greatest weakness."

"Now, say you like me more than London!"

"Is London your dim-witted friend?" asked the kid with a tone of superiority. "That dolt."

"Don't you call my best friend a dolt!" Maddie yelled. "Wait… that's actually pretty good… I like you, kid…"

"Yeah," Ty said, shaking his hair out of his eyes. "But I don't like you." He started to edge away from Maddie, and was grabbed viciously by London who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Hey, uh… Ty…" London broke off, looking stupidly at the ceiling. Then she remembered what she wanted to say. "Here's $1,000—say you like me more than Maddie."

"I don't accept bribes," said Ty, jerking his arm out of London's grasp. "I don't like either of you. I'm leaving."

Before either of the girls could do anything, Ty had gone to the elevator and back down to the lobby.

xxx

"Ay yo mismo," Esteban said anxiously.

Cody had broken out in a large red rash and was now moaning with his eyes closed. "Zack don't you dare touch that! Don't worry, Zack, I'll bail you out of jail! Thank you, I accept the Nobel Peace Prize."

"Mr. Cody," Esteban said, shaking Cody. Cody didn't drop out of his delirious state, but continued talking to himself.

"Oh no," Esteban said, running to the phone. He dialed Zack's number.

xxx

Zack's cell phone went off and Max gave him a dirty look.

"Didn't the Inconsiderate Cell Phone Man ad teach you anything? I mean, you were the one who thought it was annoying! I thought it was bad when I went to the movies with Tapeworm and he ate ten buckets of popcorn—I didn't know you were even worse!"

Tapeworm, who was eating popcorn with his eyes glued to the screen, didn't even look over.

Zack gave Max a dirty look and opened his cell phone. It was Esteban. Surprise, surprise.

"Hello," he angrily whispered, keeping his voice down.

"OH NO MR. ZACK!"

Zack drew back the phone from his ear. For some reason Esteban was screaming.

"Esteban, keep your voice down!" Zack said, his voice level beginning to raise, and people around him giving him dirty looks.

"Mr. Zack," Esteban whispered now, so softly that Zack could barely hear him.

"Esteban, talk normally."

"Mr. Zack, something happened to Mr. Cody and he will not wake up now. He's telling everything about how much you like Miss Maddie and how he secretly wears Power Rangers underwear and how your hero is Batman. Wait, Mr. Zack, I never knew that you wore Care Bear underwear with hearts on them…"

Zack felt himself flame. "Don't mention that again, Esteban. What's wrong with him?"

"I do not know, Mr. Zack. I tried everything from jumping to him, and hitting him with a chair and ay yos mio, I even tried putting ice cubes down his neck. He is not waking up."

"Oh God, Esteban, what did you do?" Then a thought occurred to Zack. "ESTEBAN!"

Somebody chucked a whole carton of popcorn at Zack. He reached up, picked a kernel out of his hair, and ate it, trying to keep his heart beat steady.

"Yes, Mr. Zack?"

"What type of poptart did you give Cody?"

"I do not know, Mr. Zack. I do not read the nutrition labels. They make me suffer from severe depression."

"FORGET THAT! WHAT COLOR WAS IT?"

Somebody chucked a full size Coke at Zack. It narrowly missed him. Tapeworm grabbed it, shrugged, and started to drink it. "Keep your voice down, Zack."

"I believe it was blue, Mr. Zack," Esteban said. "Why is that of such importance?"

"Oh God, BLUEBERRY!" Zack slammed the cell phone shut on Esteban's confused vocice.

"Shut up!" a fat man yelled. Zack gave them a dirty look, as he got out of the row and ran out of the doors, telling Max and Tapeworm he was sorry but he had an emergency at home.

"Oh God, Esteban, blueberry. Cody's deathly allergic to blueberries! Oh God, Mom is going to murder me…"

Review? It was sort of crummy, but I had fun writing it. Answered the poptart question for you all.