Maddie was in her usual spot at the counter when Zack and Cody entered the lobby coming from school.

Cody greeted her like the usual.

"Hey Maddie!" he said as he made his way to the elevator.

"Hey guys!" she greeted back.

Zack, on the other hand, barely nodded without smiling and quickly turned away. Maddie thought that was strange. Zack wasn't usually like that. He was always beaming when he sees her.

But that day, he was obviously different. Maddie didn't let this slide off.

"Hey, Zack, you okay?" she asked in a worried tone.

He slightly turned his head and replied, "yeah" without enthusiasm.

Although she only saw half of his face, she noticed a bruise on Zack's right eye. She got curious and walked towards him.

"Wait! Stay where you are!" she said when Zack was about to follow Cody in the elevator.

Zack let out a sigh. "What?"

Maddie walked towards him and lifted his chin. She was right, Zack had a big blue and black bruise on his right eye and on the corner of his mouth. He looked down, avoiding her gaze while she displayed a look of shock.

"What happened to your face?" she gasped.

"I… fell," he said with a blank expression.

Cody sighed and walked closer to them, letting the elevator doors close behind him. "He got into a fight with a senior at school. The guy thought Zack stole his girlfriend."

Zack gave Cody a deadly look. He obviously didn't want to reveal the real reason behind his bruises. Cody looked down, avoiding his brother's gaze.

Maddie shook her head, feeling angry and sad at the same time. She treated the twins like her siblings, and she reacted just like any other big sister would.

"I am going to tell this to your mom."

"NO!" Zack yelled angrily, making some guests turn their heads on him. He took a deep breath and calmed down. "Whatever happens, do not tell this to mom." He continued in a lower tone. "I don't wanna disappoint her anymore."

Maddie saw his point. She nodded.

"Okay. Let me clean up your wound before she sees you like this. She's not home right now, so don't worry."

She followed the boys to their suite and headed straight to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.

"Cody, I need a clean towel, please." she said.

Maddie sat down next to Zack on the couch and started pouring alcohol on the cotton. She pushed his hair out of the way and gently dabbed the cotton around his eyes. He winced. "Ow…"

Maddie sighed. "This is ridiculous. We gotta do something about this."

"We?" Zack asked.

"Yes. I am involed in this whether you like it or not."

"Maddie, I don't wanna involve you into this. This is just a small fight."

Maddie stopped and glared at him. "Small fight? Have you seen yourself in the mirror? Your bruises look horrible! Zack, I am not going to let anyone hurt you and Cody like this. I will step in since you don't wanna tell your mom about it."

"But…"

"No buts. Either your mom deals with this or I do. You pick."

He sighed in defeat. "Okay. You win."

"Tell me exactly what happened. I want the whole truth, Zack." She asked as he continued to wince because of his wounds.

He sighed. "Jake Mills thought that I stole his cheerleader girlfriend from him. It started when this girl and I hang out, you know, as friends. And I didn't even know that she has a boyfriend. Until she told me that she broke up with him because of me. She said she was falling for me—OUCH!!! Maddie, be gentle!" he was interrupted when Maddie dabbed with a little pressure around his eye.

"Oh, sorry. Continue." She asked, slightly embarrassed.

Zack continued. "The truth is, I only see her as a friend, but she kept on hoping that we could go out sometime. The rumors started and everyone thought I was a girlfriend stealer. So he…. uh… waited for me in the bathroom after school and beat me up without even hearing my side of the story."

Maddie shook her head, totally enraged. She knew Zack very well. He would never hurt anyone intentionally. How dare that Jake hurt him!

"Oh, he is so gonna regret this…" she mumbled as she finished cleaning up his wound.

"What do you mean?" Zack asked, raising his eyebrow.

"I'm gonna give him a dose of his own medicine."

"Are you gonna beat him up? Maddie, he's big! And I'm not going to let you fight him, are you crazy? If he ever hurt you, I swear…" he trailed off, his fist clenched.

Meanwhile, Cody was looking out the window and gasped in horror. "Oh God..."

"What?" Zack and Maddie asked in unison.

"Jake followed you home!" he replied, still looking out.

Zack groaned and closed his eyes. "Dammit!"

Maddie, on the other hand, was pleased about this. She couldn't wait to see the idiot who caused pain to Zack.

Without a word, Maddie headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Zack asked.

"I'll give him a piece of my mind."

"I'm going with you!" Zack replied.

"Me too!" Cody followed.

They all headed to the lobby and sure enough, Jake was there, looking around.

Maddie leaned sideways over Cody and whispered, "Is that him?"

Cody nodded.

Maddie narrowed his eyes at the enemy and tried to stop herself from attacking him. Moseby wouldn't like that scene in his hotel.

Finally, Jake spotted Zack and grinned. "Hey Martin. How's the remembrance I gave you?" He asked as he walked towards him.

Zack took one step forward, leaving Maddie and Cody behind. "What do you want?" Zack asked calmly.

"I wanna know where Sarah is. Where is she?" he asked as he looked around once again.

"Why are you asking me? How should I know?" he asked in disbelief.

"She is not answering my calls and she's not at home. Are you hiding her?"

"No, I'm not!"

"Hey, you little liar, do you wanna break your jaw next?" he threatened.

Maddie decided to step in. Her chest felt like it was about to explode.

"Leave him alone! He did not steal your girlfriend! He's not interested with her!" she said angrily.

He flicked his eyes at her and chuckled darkly. "Who are you? And why are you so sure?"

"Because…" she gulped and exhaled. This was the only way out, she thought. "Duh, I'm his girlfriend!"

Zack and Cody looked at her in shock, especially Zack, whose jaw dropped.

Jake raised his eyebrow. "You are?"

"He didn't tell you?" She faced Zack and scowled. "I can't believe you never told him you already have a girlfriend!"

Zack couldn't speak. He didn't know what to say.

Maddie took advantage of the fact that Jake was as confused as Zack.

"Let me tell you something. He didn't steal your girlfriend and he will never cheat on me! Maybe you should go ask your stupid girlfriend why she dumped you for a sophomore!"

Jake got furious, his face got all red. His ego was hurt. But she was right. Why would a senior girl dump a senior guy for a sophomore? That was a low blow to the ego. He wasn't angry at Zack anymore, he became angry at his ex girlfriend instead.

"Apologize. Now!" Maddie ordered.

"I'm sorry Martin, I didn't know." he said in humility.

Before Zack could reply, Maddie interrupted. "Hey, listen you… If you ever lay a finger on Zack again, I don't know what I can do to you!" she said, pointing her index finger at him.

Jake smiled apologetically at Zack and left immediately, his face all red. Maddie exhaled heavily and shook her head.

"Thanks Maddie…" Zack said.

She smiled at him. "No problem."

"Well, maybe I should get into more fights just so you can be my girlfriend, even for a moment…" he joked. Cody rolled his eyes and walked away.

"Silly!" she said as she walked back to the candy counter.

Zack followed her and stopped in front of her. "No seriously Maddie, thank you for standing up for me and for… lying for me…"

"Lying?"

"About being my girlfriend."

"Oh, no problem. You tell everyone here I'm your girlfriend anyway." she chuckled.

"H-how did you know that?" he always made sure that Maddie wasn't around when he tells that to people.

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Duh. You've been doing that since you were 12."

"How about making it real? Huh, sweet thang? What do you think?"

Maddie glared at him in disbelief. "You have just been beaten up badly and you still manage to flirt with me. You are unbelievable, Zack."

Zack moved closer to her. "No, you are unbelievable. You intimidated Jake Mills. No one intimidates him!"

"Well, I just did! No one hurts my Zack, or all hell will break loose."

Little did they know, their faces were only an inch apart from each other and everyone in the lobby started to notice it, including Moseby and Arwin.

He folded his arms across his chest and leaned over to Moseby. "You know, I'm starting to think that Zack is telling the truth about him and Maddie." Arwin commented.

"You may be right. You can't fake that connection, don't you agree?"

"I agree." Carey commented, who just entered the lobby at the time and overheard their conversation. She went over to the pair but they didn't seem to notice. They were too busy staring at each other's eyes.

She cleared up his throat and that made them jump and pull away.

"What is going on he-- Zack, what happened to your face?" Carey asked, baffled.

"Ah, this?" Zack paused for a second to come up with an excuse and he continued. "Uh... Maddie beat me up because she got jealous when she saw me with a girl she thought I was flirting with. Will you tell her I love her and I'm never going to replace her?" Zack turned away and headed to the elevator. When he got inside, he winked at Maddie before the elevator closed.

Maddie, on the other hand, dropped her jaw and shook her head in disbelief.

"I have a more realistic explanation than that!" Maddie said to Carey.

"I can't believe you're still denying." Carey replied with a smile. "Your action says something different. But it's okay, Maddie. I trust that you will confide in me in your own time."

"No, I swear, I didn't beat him up!"

"I'm not talking about that part." Carey smiled and headed to the elevator.

Maddie displayed a look of confusion as she watch Carey leave the lobby.

Action? What action was she talking about?

It made her doubt herself. She wasn't falling for Zack, was she?

She took a deep breath and smiled.

She was going to find out for herself.