On the last day of school before the Christmas break, the school was tense. No one had seen Screech all day, and at Bayside High, no one ever missed school unless it was serious. Zack had been on his phone all morning. In Chemistry class he had teamed up with a nameless nerd who was sure to get all of the work got done while he called everyone he knew. By lunch he hadn’t heard anything, and as he headed into The Max, his feet followed the familiar path, but his mind was somewhere else.
He hadn’t seen Kelly yet that day, which was disconcerting, but then again she had been avoiding him a lot the last couple of weeks. For at least the last week she was often sick in the mornings, and would spend her first period – volleyball – in the girl’s bathroom. Self-absorbed as he was, Zack wasn’t blind to what was happening; he recognized the symptoms for what they were, though he had said nothing. Kelly was pregnant, he knew it. And he knew this much, too: it wasn’t his.
As he sat down at a booth, fellow students in bright denim talking animatedly to one another all around the restaurant, he realized he hadn’t really seen any of his friends this morning. He had been so busy trying to find out about Screech that he hadn’t wondered where Slater and Jesse were. Or Lisa, he thought with a pang of guilt. He thought he knew why Lisa hadn’t been coming around him, especially after last weekend’s party. He hadn’t meant for anything to happen; she had just been so drunk. And so had he. And in that state, it had been easy to act on what he had over the years often wanted to act on. He wouldn’t blame Lisa for how she felt, he just wondered what exactly she felt. Was it anger? Fear? Confusion? He hoped it was confusion, because that’s sure what he felt. Did he love her? And more importantly, did she love him?
Just then Slater walked in, looking lethargic. He had a glazed over look: the hundred-yard stare, as Mr. Belding would have called it. Zack knew why without asking, but he cleared his throat and braced himself anyway, prepared to talk about it. Slater sat down without a word on the other side of the booth, his hands in his sweatshirt pockets. Even though he was wearing his workout clothes, he appeared impeccably clean, from his glowing black curls right down to his polished white sneakers. His skin seemed to pulse with a kind of bronze glow, and Zack again admitted silently to himself that, without a doubt, Slater was the best looking guy in the senior class. He cleared his throat.
“What’s up Slater?” And tentatively he added, “Where’s Jesse?”
Slater looked up suddenly, his eyes watery, before looking away again. The noise and chatter in The Max was a din at that moment. Why was everyone so happy?
Slater cleared his throat and shifted in the seat. “She’s not feeling well.” He rolled his head around as if his neck was stiff. “I don’t think she’s coming to school again.”
Zack gritted his teeth. He wanted to be sympathetic, but damn it, why did Slater have to be so somber about it? It was Jesse’s fault, after all. Zack love Jesse, had been her close friend since they were kids, but he didn’t think he could put up with this any longer. If she wanted to ruin her life with No Doze, that was her choice, but she shouldn’t be allowed to bring everyone else down, too. Zack plucked up his courage suddenly, and the words were out of his mouth before he knew it.
“Slater, we’ve got to tell somebody, anybody. Mr. Belding even. Slater, she’s addicted.”
Slater flinched, and hung his head. Somewhere a tray of food dropped, but the noise was mixed with the conversation around them. Zack gritted his teeth again. “It’s not use, A. C. I can’t keep faking it. Everything’s falling apart.”
Slater looked up, looked in Zack’s eyes, and there were definitely tears there now. And they seemed to exchange an understanding. A conversation was held in that shared look; in that moment they said everything there was to say about everything that had happened to them the last several years. Their rivalry, their friendship; the romances and heartbreaks; the adventures, the crackpot schemes, the hijinks; the lessons, the wisdom; and the finality of what was coming at the end of the next semester. That is what they were both thinking, Zack knew it. They were both thinking, What would happen after high school? What would happen to their group of friends?
Just then the door of The Max burst open. There in the doorway, framed by the bright Southern California sun behind him, stood Mr. Belding, his gray suit glimmering silkily, his bald pate shining, his thick smile beaming. He walked toward them, and following behind was Screech. Schreech! His giant goofy grin lighting up the place. And then Lisa, and Kelly, and Jesse. And there was Miss Bliss! And behind here came in a whole cast of characters, people Zack knew by face but not by name. And he knew then that it would be okay, that they would make it. He knew then that, against all odds, like a school child on the verge of failure, he had been saved, saved by the bell.
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