Chapter 7: Do a Good Turn Daily

"Thanks mom, you're the best." Zack kissed his mom on the cheek. Luckily for Zack, Zack's mom did know how to bake, and was unknowingly assisting him in fulfilling his blackmailer's demands.

"I know." His mom smiled. "But in all seriousness, it's very nice of you to bring in snacks for your classmates, after what happened to that poor boy."

"I know it's only a little gesture, but I'm hoping it will make everyone's day a little bit brighter." Zack lied.

"I never thought I'd see the day, but I actually think you're growing up Zack." His mom smiled. "I believe if you do someone a good turn, that goodness will come back to you. Kindness begets kindness." She tousled Zack's hair affectionately and went out to go get the mail.

While she wasn't looking, Zack reluctantly added the weed his blackmailer had given him into the mix. He had done a lot of shady things over the years, like that one time he had lost all of his teacher's savings by taking her money and investing it into potatoes. And that one time he had tried to use subliminal messaging to brainwash cute girls. But drugs? Zack was repulsed that he had sunk so low. If there was one thing he had actually learned in school, it's that drugs weren't cool, and that marijuana was a gateway drug. Society had to be held to higher moral standards. Just as long as Zack could pick and choose which moral standards he had to go along with.

Still, as shameful as drug use was, it wasn't like he was going to be eating the muffins himself. That would be the basketball team. It was a dog eat dog world, and Zack would do whatever he had to in order to survive.

Once again Zack considered making a trip next door to Jessie's room, but he decided against it. He couldn't risk her talking him out of this, the stakes were just too high.

The next day at school, Lisa took her seat beside Nanno in health class.

"How exciting" Lisa said with thick sarcasm "We can expect another fun and cheerful lecture on dealing with grief today I suppose."

"You don't find such lessons helpful, Lisa?" Nanno asked.

"Maybe I would if I was actually grieving." She answered. "But I doubt many people are going to lose any sleep over what happened to you-know-who."

"Well, you never know. Maybe a few people are." Nanno considered.

"I think mostly, we're all just shocked at the reminder that we're all mortal." Lisa admitted. She didn't usually like to think about such heavy topics, and certainly she didn't like actually talking about them.

Nanno's mouth twitched upwards at Lisa's comment, but she didn't say anything in response to that.

"Well, at least we're not learning about sex or pregnancy again." Lisa said.

Nanno gave her an impish look. "Oh, does sex make Lisa unconformable?" she teased.

"I hardly need to hear about it again from a fifty-year-old teacher." Lisa returned easily.

"Maybe you'd rather Nanno teach you about it." Nanno grinned toothily.

Lisa rolled eyes. "And why do the guys have to be in here with us while we're learning about pregnancy? It'll never have anything to do with them, the lucky ducks."

"Who knows? Maybe once in a while, a guy could get pregnant too." Nanno mused.

"I'm pretty sure that's not how it works girl." Lisa retorted dryly, to which Nanno only shrugged.

"Hey, you're wearing that school uniform looking getup you wore on the first day here." Lisa pointed out frowning.

"I guess I feel comfortable wearing familiar clothing on important days." Nanno responded vaguely.

"Important, do we have a test today I forgot about?" Lisa winced. She tried to keep her grades reasonably high so that her rich father would have no reason to deny her whenever she wanted money from him.

At this, Nanno couldn't contain herself, and her lips twitched upwards into a sharp smile. "People are tested every day." She answered, and the two lapsed into silence.

Zack slipped into the gym before basketball practice, and left them a tray full of delicious muffins, with a note attached, claiming they were a gift from the cooking club. He turned to leave, but he decided he needed to stay and watch, just to make sure they didn't just toss out the muffins. So Zack walked behind the gym bleachers and settled down to observe. The bleachers weren't folded up, so there was plenty of room to hide out for a while.

The basketball team went into the locker room and changed, and after they came back from the lockers they spotted the muffins. Sure enough they began eating them. Zack sighed. Of course they'd eat the muffins, they were growing jocks who would never pass up free food. He didn't know why he had stuck around, and now he'd have to hide under the bleachers until they were done with practice.

It wasn't long before their behavior began to change. They were totally spacing out. For all that Zack held a strong anti-drug stance, it was actually kind of funny seeing them all high. This was definitely worth it to avoid getting in trouble, Zack decided. The basketball team seemed relaxed and happy, and the worst that was happening was that they weren't really bothering with practice.

Then the coach arrived, and was astounded by the behavior of his team. Zack guessed he would have eaten a muffin too if he hadn't arrived late. Maybe the team would get in some trouble when the coach realized they were high, Zack guessed. But it should be fine when they explained they didn't make the muffins.

Then a student threw up. Gross, Zack wrinkled his nose. Maybe weed was like alcohol, and some people were just lightweights, Zack guessed. Then more students started getting sick. Some threw up, others collapsed, everywhere most of the players seemed to be in rough shape in one way or another. Zack stared in horror, as the coach sent a still healthy student to call for an ambulance, and tried to care for his team. It occurred to Zack belatedly that he had only guessed at how much pot he should put into the muffins, and hadn't known how much was too much.

Zack was stuck under the bleachers, and could do nothing but watch as paramedics arrived and began treating the basketball team, and taking away the students who had fared particularly badly. Zack definitely wouldn't have hidden under the bleachers if he knew he'd be stuck down here all evening, smelling vomit and watching other people clean up the mess he made.

Finally, the gym emptied out, and an exhausted and defeated Zack stood up to leave.

"Wow, that was interesting, right?" called out a voice.

Zack spun around. Standing with him in the darkness beneath the bleachers was Nanno. But how?

"Nanno, what are you doing here?" Zack asked, shocked.

"Hmm, I was watching all the fun. So many cops and paramedics, how exciting" Nanno said cheerfully, and Zack stared in disbelief.

Nanno put a finger one the right side of her lips, tilting her head with an exaggerated look of confusion on her face. "But Zack, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Oh, I um…" Zack trailed off cagily, sweating. But then a thought struck him.

"No, wait a moment." Zack realized. "How can you be here? You couldn't have snuck past everyone, and what would you be doing here in the first place?" Zack asked again, with mounting suspicion.

"Oh" Nanno nodded. "I was just making sure you did what I asked of you. And you did! Good boy!"

Zack stared at her in shock. He couldn't believe what was happening. "But… but why?" Zack asked.

Nanno pretended to be thinking hard. "I don't know. Why did you do what you did to Moose?" she asked in return.

Zack felt his mouth go dry. It was unthinkable to admit to her now that he had done all that just to get Moose out of the way so that he could go out with her. And suddenly, he had no desire to go out with her at all.

"Where's the tape?" he asked instead of answering. "I did what you said."

Nanno patted her skirt as if it had pockets, and pouted when she predictably found nothing. "I guess it's not here. Maybe I dropped it somewhere?" she shrugged.

Out of control, Zack surged forward, pinning Nanno against the wall. "Where's the tape!" Zack roared.

"Now that I think about it, didn't I only promise not to give the tape to Principal Belding? Don't worry" Nanno assured him "I haven't done that."

"GIVE IT TO ME!" he shook her roughly.

"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! WAHAHAHAHAHAHA" Nanno burst into crazy, screaming laughter that raised the hairs on Zack's arms. He let her go, and backed off as she just kept laughing and laughing. She didn't stop even as he ran out of the gym and out of the school.

That night, a rock bounced off against Screech's window.

"Not again" he groaned, going to open the window before Zack could lob any more solid aggregates of minerals at his battered bedroom window.

"What?" he asked irritably, sticking his head out the window.

"Um" Kelly started, taken aback by his abrupt tone. "I just wanted to see how you were doing." She tried.

"I've been better." Screech admitted, abashed when he realized it wasn't Zack at all. "Come on in."

Kelly walked up to Screech's room and took a seat next to him at his desk. "You've been a big help to me Screech, but now that I think about it, I never really offered to return the favor. Let me help you Screech, tell me what's wrong."

"I'd like to Kelly, but I promised Zack I wouldn't say anything." Screech looked away.

"Screech, you can't let Zack keep doing this to you." She insisted.

"And you're one to talk? We all put up with Zack's crap, and let him keep getting away with the same stuff over and over." Screech ranted.

Kelly was taken aback by the pain and anger in Screech's tone. She had never heard him talk like this before, let alone about his best friend.

Kelly laid one of her hands over his. "Then maybe it's time someone stood up to Zack." She stated.

Screech crumbled. "Oh Kelly, it was all our fault!" Screech then explained to her Zack's blackmailing of Moose, the cameras in the parking lot, and Chris's brief but catastrophic attempt to chase after Moose. And finally Zack swearing him to silence.

Kelly gripped Screech's hand tightly, shaking. "Screech, this is awful! I mean, I just have no words! You have to tell someone!"

"Zack's right, what good would it do." Screech disagreed, looking broken.

Kelly poked him in the chest, at his heart. "It will do you good Screech. You can't live like this. And you know it's the right thing to do."

Screech looked conflicted. It didn't seem like the logical course of action; it was all negative consequences with no positive benefits. But he became filled with a new determination. Was it logical to let this eat himself up on the inside, until there was nothing left? Zack had argued that he had a bright future ahead of him, so he shouldn't say anything. But what future did he have if he was nothing but a shell of his former self?

"You're right Kelly. Tomorrow, I'll go to Principal Belding and tell him everything."

Kelly leaned over and hugged him tightly.

"I'm proud of you Screech. When Zack's not in your head, you're a great guy."

"How great could I be? Maybe Zack's manipulated me in the past, but I'm the one who chose to let him."

Kelly patted his back. "Don't beat yourself up. We've all been there."

"True" Screech grimaced. "You even dated him for a while."

"And look how that turned out." She sighed. "Jealous?" She asked, almost managing to muster a smirk.

"No. Well, maybe a little." He admitted for the first time, even to himself.

"That's news to me. I'm not the one who broke things off between you and me Screech." She said softly. "And over what? We have different tastes in music?"

"Well, you have to admit, we're two very different people" Screech said, uncomfortable with his own flimsy logic.

"And you and Lisa aren't? But you've still pursued her, even though she's not interested." Kelly countered. "I thought you were funny, smart, and kind; I still think those things. I have fun with you. Isn't that enough? I know you liked me too, and liked spending time with me."

Screech facepalmed. "I've been an idiot."

"You're the dumbest genius I know." Kelly joked. "For now, let's get this mess sorted out, then we can see what the future holds."

Screech smiled authentically for the first time in days, a hint of optimism returning to his expression. "Maybe you're the genius Kelly. Sounds like a plan."

That night, in the dark, Moose was taking a trip down memory lane, trying to remember his time with the boy scouts. He couldn't remember the whole oath, but he remembered the boy scout motto. Not the "be prepared" one, but "Do a Good Turn Daily." So much for that, he thought darkly.

After getting Chris killed, Moose had turned to writing poetry again. He was surprisingly skilled at it, but Moose felt that the rhyming words had only served to make him more sadderer. So now here he was, reflecting on the past and recalling old skills he had learned during his time with the boy scouts.

Moose tried to imagine what his life would be like if he had done things differently. What if he ignored that mysterious stranger who offered him pills? Or what if he had known what steroids were, and beat the man up for trying to sell them to him? What if he took the blackmail letter in his locker to the principal instead of doing what it said? What if he had fought Chris instead of running? Or tried to help after Chris crashed instead of continuing to run?

Moose admitted he wasn't smart enough to answer any of those questions. But at least he was smart enough to remember how to tie a knot, he thought, finishing his work with the rope and looping it around his neck. He also wondered what his life would be like if he lived past tonight. But he couldn't bear the guilt. What Moose would miss most was football, and his bros on the team, he decided. That, and sweet Nanno.

Moose stepped off the deck, and broke his neck.