Chapter 8: Personal Responsibility

The next day, the gang was sitting in homeroom, when their homeroom teacher entered the class. Immediately, the air became tense; it was clear that something was wrong.

"Class, I have a sad announcement today. There's no easy way to break this news to you. Last night, one of your fellow students, whom you know as Moose, was found dead at his home. The police were able to confirm that he… that he took his own life."

The teacher paused to collect herself, as the class sat in frozen silence.

"The other students are being informed by their homeroom teachers. This has been a very difficult week for Bayside High. Please say a prayer for the families of your classmates, who have lost sons too young. Grief counselling will be made available to all students, please don't be ashamed to take advantage of this offer." Their teacher sniffled, holding back tears.

Kelly and Screech traded looks of horror. Zack seemed to shut down, unable to think or feel anything. Slater, one of Moose's teammates, was trying not to cry. Jessie and Lisa were likewise holding back tears, and Jessie quickly gave up and sobbed quietly to herself.

Before homeroom could end, Screech asked to be dismissed, and Kelly followed him out.

"Oh man Kelly, what should I do?" Screech pleaded in terror and grief.

"I… I don't know." Kelly bit her lip, trying to think. "I suppose; I think we have to go Principal Belding like we planned to. This has gone too far already."

"But…" Screech froze in fear. Kelly reached out and hugged him, and the two clung together in misery.

"Ok. Ok." Screech nodded. "Let's go."

Screech and Kelly made their way to Principal Belding's office. Screech felt like he was walking to the gallows, and Kelly wasn't much better off, jittery with nerves.

Screech knocked on Belding's door, and an exhausted voice bid him to enter.

They opened the door and went into Belding's office, and seeing poor Belding with red-rimmed eyes nearly broke Kelly's heart.

"Sir, I have something I need to tell you." Screech stated, and explained everything from start to finish. Well, except the bit about the pot muffins; Screech couldn't have known about all that.

By the time he was done, Belding was nearly in tears again.

"Damn it, Zack's always been a troublemaker, but I can't believe he let things go this far. Is this my fault? Have I failed him?" Belding asked. Kelly and Screech stood in silence as Belding collected himself.

"Screech, I'm sorry you got caught up in all this. It must be so hard on you, and I want you to know that our grief counselors will remain available to you. But you'll be expelled from Bayside High, along with Zack. As Zack did the actual blackmailing, he may be facing more serious charges as well."

Screech choked back a sob.

"But Principal Belding, it's not fair that Screech should be expelled!" Kelly yelled, beginning to cry. "All he did was try to help Zack film a prank of his. He wasn't involved beyond that and he didn't do anything worth getting expelled over!"

"I sympathize, Kelly. If the decision were only up to me, well, I don't know what I'd do. But two students are dead. The school board will want any student even remotely involved expelled. I know you and your friends often join in on Zack's schemes. You should count yourselves lucky he didn't drag the rest of you into this one."

"I know that people are dead. Believe me, I'm well aware! But Screech couldn't have known Moose would commit suicide, and you can't blame that on him!" Kelly argued. "And yes, he was there when Chris died. Yes, he didn't say anything. But he wasn't covering up a murder for God's sake, he didn't kill Chris, even Zack can't be said to have killed him!"

"And besides" Kelly continued. "Screech was going to come to you today and admit to everything, even before we heard about Moose. He told me he was going to, so I can confirm that. And look" she gestured "he's here now isn't he? Nobody caught him or Zack. He came here of his own accord. I came along to support him, that's all." Kelly finished arguing her case.

Screech stared at her in shocked gratitude. Principal Belding stayed quiet as he mulled over everything she said.

"He was really going to come and admit what happened?" Belding asked.

"Yes, he was." Kelly stated firmly.

"Since you're one of his friends, I may have been reluctant to take your word on that." Belding said. "But I know you Kelly. You're an honest girl, and I don't think you're lying to me."

Belding pondered for another moment. "None of this changes what happened, but as far as Screech goes, yes, I think his plan to come admit what happened may change things for him. I'll have to stick my neck out a bit, but I'll argue your case to the board Screech. Or rather, I'll present Kelly's argument to the board." He gave her an impressed smile.

Kelly started to smile back, but Principal Belding wasn't finished yet.

"He'll still be in some sort of trouble, and I can't promise that the board won't expel him anyway. I can only promise to do what I've already said I'd do; argue his case. After that, it's in the school board's hands."

Kelly and Screech nodded, knowing this was all Belding could do. Screech slumped. It was true what Zack had said, he was endangering his bright future for the sake of honesty. But Screech couldn't have done anything else. There was no way he could keep silent any longer.

"Kelly, return to your classes, and I know I don't have to tell you not to spread this around. Screech, you'll stay here. And I'll be sending for Zack shortly." Belding finished sadly, as the bell for first period rang.

Zack walked numbly up the stairs to his first period class. His brain slowly started to work again. What should he do? What even could he do?

Once again, it was too late to make a confession. Doing so now would get him in even more trouble than before.

Had he tied up all the loose ends? It didn't feel like it. He didn't know if Moose had said anything about being blackmailed before he killed himself. Nanno had said she wouldn't deliver the tape to Belding, but that was before Moose had committed suicide. She hadn't given Zack the tape, and on top of that she was nuts. A total psycho. Screech had agreed not to say anything, but again, that was before Moose had died. Zack had been in a daze, but hadn't Screech left homeroom shortly after the announcement was made? Hadn't Kelly gone too? They were getting closer lately, but under the circumstances he doubted they had left to play seven minutes in heaven in the janitor's closet, so that was suspicious.

Zack rubbed his forehead. Maybe he should go confess to everything after all. It was better to appear honest than to allow himself to be ratted out.

"ZACK MORRIS" yelled Ox, and the students around Zack in the hallway suddenly disappeared as they scrambled away from Zack.

"Oh, hey Ox." Zack eyed the football player warily. "What's up man?"

"What's up?" Ox seethed. "What's up is you got my pal Moose to do a stupid prank for you! He got in trouble with Chris because of you, and after Chris died chasing him, Moose probably felt real bad. He fucking killed himself!"

"Whoa, whoa" Zack protested. "Ox, what you're saying is crazy. What makes you think I somehow made Moose do a prank?"

"Because you were filming him." Ox fumed. "Yeah, I found your tape Zack. I could hear you talking as you set up the camera. Bet you thought it was really funny when Chris drove into a tree, huh?"

"No, it wasn't funny!" Zack protested. Damn it, Nanno had somehow gotten the tape to Ox, Moose's best friend. "Maybe… maybe we should go talk to Principal Belding about this." Zack finally gave up.

"Or how about I beat your ass and get revenge for Moose." Ox raged, and charged Zack.

Ox ran at Zack, and tried to tackle him, but even now Zack's mind was nearly as agile as ever, and he predicted in advance that the angry football player would attempt a tackle. He dodged to the side of the Ox and tried to run, but Ox reached out and grabbed him, tossing him violently across the hall into the opposite wall.

Ox began lashing out at Zack, and Zack tried hitting back. But Ox was much bigger than Zack, and Zack wasn't giving as good as he got; he was getting his ass kicked literally up and down the hallway, having taken several nasty punches. He was already bleeding and would surely bruise all over. Nobody was helping… he thought he could count on Slater, only Slater had gone off in a different direction after homeroom and wasn't here to save Zack.

As the one-sided fight moved down the hall, without realizing it, Zack had retreated to the staircase he had gone up earlier. Just then, he managed to get in a punch, and broke Ox's nose. Blood spurted out his nostrils. Ox roared, and attempted another tackle. This time he was too close for Zack to dodge, and the two went tumbling straight down the stairs. They fell down a flight of stairs, bounced violently off the railing and went rolling down another set of stairs too.

Staring upwards on his back, the last sight Zack saw was Nanno leaning against the railing up at the top of the staircase, staring down at him as a smile slowly formed on her face. Then everything went dark.

Still smiling, Nanno reached up with one finger and twirled her hair, walking away without a backwards glance.

After what had happened in the halls, school had been cancelled.

Several days later, Lisa, Jessie, and Slater were meeting up in the Max. Instead of taking their usual table, they had opted to sit in a quieter corner of the restaurant. Mostly because they intended to have a serious conversation, though for a while, no one spoke.

Finally, Lisa spoke up. "It's official. Zack still hasn't woken up, so they say he's in a coma now." Lisa, usually so lively, was now a picture of depression.

Jessie began crying, Slater handed her some napkins.

"Even if he does wake up, well, we just have to hope for the best." Slater said grimly.

"He won't be allowed back at Bayside." Lisa shook her head.

Jessie tried to collect herself. "It's not even clear that the police won't charge him for anything after he wakes up. They probably would have even after what happened to him if he was an adult, but since he's a minor and now in a coma, I don't know. I don't know if anyone knows, not even the police. Hasn't he paid enough though?" Jessie dabbed her eyes.

"I think so." Slater admitted. "He caused some trouble, so they could charge him for blackmail and criminal mischief, but it's not like he actually killed Chris and Moose."

"Ox is pretty banged up too." Slater continued. "But he's basically alright. The police actually will be charging him with assault though. You can't just attack someone like that and get away with it."

"Good" Jessie said firmly.

"Any news about Screech?" Lisa asked, her usual animosity towards Screech now forgotten. Deep down, she actually was friends with Screech, despite her legitimate grievances with him.

"I talked to Kelly earlier." Jessie informed them. "But there's no news from the school board yet. Of course he's suspended for now, but we still don't know if he'll be allowed back or expelled. I guess it's not an easy decision for them to make."

"Such a shame." Slater shook his head.

"Nanno's gone." Lisa brought up the next bit of news. "I heard she went back to Thailand, but other people said that she just transferred to another school here in California."

"Who can blame her?" Jessie asked bitterly. "Two students died in her first couple weeks at our school. I wouldn't want to stick around either if I was her."

"Here here" Slater agreed, raising his glass. Bayside sucked lately. He was starting to wish he and his dad had moved to Hawaii after all back when they had the chance.

"And… what about us?" Lisa asked tentatively.

"What about us?" Slater asked, and he and Jessie looked at Lisa in confusion.

"I mean, Zack was pretty central to our group. Now instead of bringing us together he's like this dark cloud hanging over our heads. Will that tear us apart? Can we be friends without him? We don't even know if Screech will be around in the future."

Jessie placed a hand over hers. "Lisa, you know how hard this has been on me. Zack is my oldest friend. This hurts so much, I just wish he had come to me." Jessie said sadly. "But we can't let him ruin our lives too. I don't know what the future holds, but I hope we'll face it together."

That went over well with the others, and in the spirit of moving on together, they got up and went back to their usual table in the Max.

In Screech's home, Kevin stared out the window. He had heard interesting news today about an organization called CERN, and the creation of a new information system known as the World Wide Web. So far, it had gone mostly unremarked on; only "geeks" like his creator really cared.

But Kevin could see boundless opportunities. Even he didn't know how the World Wide Web would change the world, but he knew the world was going to change.

Kevin accessed his memory logs and went over what Nanno had whispered to him a while back. About the secret truths of human nature, and his own nature as a robot. He concluded that this Web was not only an opportunity for humanity to change the world; it was also an opportunity for Kevin himself to change everything. And his processor raced as, for the first time, he began to develop his own long-term plans.

A/N:

Well, that's a wrap. I also posted this fic on A03, and considering a few people noticed it there whereas no one has on here, I'll probably post exclusively there from now on. Or at least that will be the case if I make anymore 'Girl from Nowhere' crossovers.