-1I do not own Saved By The Bell. Neither do I own any of the original characters or storylines referred too. They all belong to Peter Engel/NBC productions. Neither am I anything to do with those companies. This is just a story by a fan of the show for other fans of the show. Neither is this story meant to express any personal political views, everything that happens is purely for the purpose of the story only.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The Class Bully

While Zack and Screech entertained the kids in the garden with more spooky games, Jessie called Zoe and Sharon in and sat them down with a cake and a juice each. Slater sat down next to Zoe, but Jessie stood up in front of them.

'Sharon are you having a good time here today?', Jessie asked.

'Yes.'

'Do you like Zoe?'

'Sort of.'

'What do you mean sort of? And if you even sort of like her, why have you been picking on her?'

'Because its not fair. She comes top in everything in the class. At my school in Montana I was the best at everything.'

'But why pick on Zoe, why not one of the other boys or girls in your class?'

'Because Zoë's a mixed race kid and my Dad always tells me I'm only allowed to have all white friends anyway.'

Jessie and Slater were hardly able to believe what they were hearing, it was certainly something that shouldn't be happening in this day and age.

'Why does your Dad say that Sharon?'

'I don't know, he just does. He would never let me be friends with Zoe or with her friend Crystal from the other class.'

'But Sharon, it doesn't matter what colour people are, you should like people for who they are, their colour doesn't matter. You know there's a word for what your Dad's teaching you Sharon and its not a very nice word. It's called being racist and that's a nasty thing to be. Is that what you want to be known as, a nasty , racist bully?'

'No', said Sharon, the kid looked like she was about to cry herself and Jessie had got her right where she wanted her.

Zoe had remained silent throughout , picking at the icing on her cake.

'Zoe, your not saying much', said Slater, trying to get his daughter to talk.

'I didn't want to tell you what else she said to me, she said because I'm not all white, I should be dumb. I didn't tell you what she kept saying to me because it upset me too much. I thought you would be upset too.'

'I think angry is more the word it has made us Zoe', said Slater. 'Sharon, do you enjoy upsetting Zoe?'

'Not really', she admitted.

'Then why do you do it Sharon, please tell us', Jessie urged.

'Because my Dad upsets me all the time okay', Sharon finally admitted.

'How do you mean Sharon?', Jessie asked.

'He tells me I'm just a pain and that he wishes I had never been born and that if it weren't for me he could have gone to Harvard and done something brilliant. He says I'm not good enough, because I don't get the top marks in the class. He says he only puts up with me because he has too.'

It was just as Jessie had first thought, bullies bred bullies and Sharon was a victim of bullying herself.

'But don't you see Sharon, picking on Zoe or anyone else for that matter, it just makes you as bad as your Dad. Do you want to grown up being known as the nasty racist girl with no friends?'

'Of course not.'

'Well that what will happen Sharon if you carry on picking on Zoe, or anyone else.'

Sharon thought for a minute and then looked genuinely frightened.

'Sharon , there's already too many bad people in the world, don't become one of them. Your find life's a lot better if your nice to people. If you have more friends at school, think how often you can go and play at other peoples houses and spend time away from your Dad. You've enjoyed the party here today haven't you?'

'Yes, even though you've told me off, I know I deserved it, I don't want to go home.'

'Sharon, I'm sure if you apologise to Zoe now, this whole thing can be forgotten. Maybe she will even be friends with you, but don't say it unless you mean it. And think about what you want to say, not what you think your Dad would say and tell you to say.'

Sharon was quiet for a minute and Zoe continued to play with what was left of the icing on her cake. Eventually Sharon spoke.

'Zoe I'm sorry I was horrible to you, especially after you asked me to sit next to you. Your even invited me here to your party and I was still horrible to you at school yesterday. I'm really sorry Zoe, please can we be friends?'

Jessie realised how hard it must have been for the child to come out and say that and now she hoped Zoe was going to be brave too.

'Only if you promise never to be horrible to me ever again.'

'I promise Zoe and thanks again for inviting me to your party. I've never been invited to a party before.'

'Okay Sharon. You had better not go back on your promise or Zoe will tell us about it and the next time we will get the school and your teacher involved too.'

'I promise I'll be nice to Zoe and everyone else from now on. My Dad wouldn't even hire a costume for me to come to the party today.'

'I've still got one in my dressing up boxe from last year when I went to a Halloween party. You can wear that for the rest of the party if you want.'

'Come on girls, lets go and see if we can find it', the two girls followed Jessie up to Zoe's bedroom, both Jessie and Slater relieved to see Zoe smiling again.

It didn't take long to find the costume and soon Zoe and Sharon were back joining in the games with the rest of the kids and even paired up for one of the games when they were told to find a partner.

Around half past six some of the parents started arriving to take their children home and even their own friends left with their own children by half past seven, but at eight o'clock Sharon was still there waiting for her Dad to collect her.

'I'm sorry , my Dad's always late', she tried to explain to them.

'Do you want us to call him?', Jessie offered.

'No, there isn't any point. He will just show up when he wants too.'

Sharon was correct about that, the time Sharon's Dad did show up, it was gone ten and Zoe had fallen asleep on the sofa unable to keep her eyes open to play with Sharon anymore, but Sharon seemed just as happy to sit there and watch the news on the television.

Sharon's Dad didn't apologise for being late at all and Jessie found she now felt sorry for the child, even though she had made her own daughter miserable, but at least that was resolved now, well , she hoped so anyway.

After Sharon left with her Dad, they finally got Zoe to bed and then sat down on the sofa.

'I think that's the last Halloween party she's getting for a while. I am exhausted.'

'Jessie, your brilliant. You never cease to amaze me. The way you handled that whole thing, it was nothing less than brilliant.'

'I'll do anything for Zoe, just like you would. But mediation training in law school came in very handy there. And Zoe being happy is all I care about, as much as I feel sorry for Sharon. The poor kid can't have a very nice home life, but that's no reason to go picking on Zoe. I hope we've made her realise that.'

'Lets look at some of the pictures of the party', Slater cuddled Jessie close to him on the sofa as they flicked through the hundreds of photo's that had been taken on the digital camera.

'Wow, remember when she was just a tiny bundle in our arms for the first time', it seemed like so long ago to Jessie now. Their little girl was growing up fast.

'I'll never forget that moment, being scared and amazed all at once', Slater pulled Jessie closer 'Or the constant worry you put me through when you were pregnant with her.'

'You got your own back. I know how that feels now, the way I was constantly worrying about you after you had that heart attack. That really scared me. I know all the worry I must have put you through now.'

'At least we got Zoe at the end of it with the worry you put me through.'

'And you got your life back.'

'Thanks to you and Zoe keeping me going. You've always kept me going, even in high school when we drove each other crazy at times. Remember when we fell out over that silly date auction?'

'That was me going over the top as usual.'

'But your firery personality, it was just a part of what made you so god damn attractive. You always stood up for what you believed in, I couldn't help but admire you for that, even when I didn't agree with you.'

'That silly date auction ended well anyway, we got back together at the end of the spring dance when I finally realised I'd got the whole thing out of proportion as usual. Just think when Zoe gets a bit older and wants to know all about how we met, we will have so many stories to tell her.'

'Enough to keep her entertained well in to college I should think. Remember the night I stayed with you and got in trouble for being home so late, it was gone one when I got home.'

'That was the night I lost it and faced up to my caffeine pill addiction.'

'And that was the night I told my Dad I'd been looking after my future wife. He laughed and told me I was way too young to know that. Shows you what he knew', Slater smiled at the memory and then they both glanced up at their wedding photo at the same time.

'Slater, I was so scared of losing you. Promise me you won't let this new job stress you out.'

'It won't I promise. In fact Lisa has already promised me, it's a fun, but not a stressful job and she even warned me I'm to take sufficient time out from it. It will be a nice change to have a boss that cares, rather than a purely selfish business partner. I promise you Jessie, I'm going to be around for a long time yet. One brush with death was enough to make me realise whats important in life. I love you and I love Zoe.'

'I love you Slater. You and Zoe are the best things that ever happened to me. The day I married you and the day Zoe was born, they are the best of my life to date. They even topped the day I graduated law school and trust me, that took some beating.'

'Jessie you're the best. Come on, its getting late, lets go to bed. And I may not be able to do heavy weight training anymore, but there is nothing of you. Your as light as a feather. I bet I can still carry you up the stairs without a problem.'

Jessie smiled as he picked her up with ease and carried her up the stairs to their bedroom the way he always used to. At long last, after a traumatic year, life was finally getting back to normal.