Title: Beyond Limitations (1/1)
Author: Marie
Pairing: Willow/Zack Morris
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns BTVS and Willow. Same goes for Peter
Angel Owning Zack and Saved By The Bell. I lay no claim. I make no
cash. Don't sue me.
Spoilers: Set in season 2 of BTVS goes AU after the Halloween
Episode. Oz? Oz who? SBTB is harder. Lord knows they spent like six
years in high school. I guess it's set in Zack's junior year. There's
an itty bitty little spoiler but if you haven't seen every episode of
this show like 80 times over and hate being spoiled don't read.
Summary: Mr. Belding has a job for Zack.
A/N 1: Anything between / / takes place in the past.
A/N 2: A bit inspired by Jinni's odd couples challenge plus.I've yet
to see a BTVS crossover with this show so I just decided to go for
it. And I heart Zack Morris. Immature I know, but he makes me revert
to the giddy 9 year-old I was back in the day. Also I will do
apparently anything to keep from doing my school work.
"That's it Morris, this latest escapade is going to cost you two
months of detention." The stern principal declared.
"Two months! Mr. Belding I swear that the Bayside Girl's Volley Ball
website I set up was only meant to instill pride in our school's
athletic program. Any profit made was purely accidental." The
teenager protested.
Richard Belding shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose
wondering how he could like a kid that just aggravated the hell out
of him.
"Zack your detention stands and we'll both be meeting with your
mother. That way you can explain to her all your creative ideas of
what constitutes school pride."
Zack's eyes widened at the implications of what the principal just
told him.
"Oh but Mr. Belding you can't, my mom will kill me."
"Good hopefully she'll let me watch."
"But sir."
The ring of a cell phone cut off Zack's pleading. It wouldn't be his
phone that was for damn sure. The school had this stupid rule banning
cell phone use on school grounds. Zack looked expectantly at his
principal, since it was his pocket that was ringing. Mr. Belding had
the decency to look a little sheepish at being caught breaking a
school rule.
Mr. Belding answered his phone. He turned his back to the teenager to
speak to his wife. Zack could tell it was the missus from all
the "but honeys" he heard Belding say. He watched as the principal's
body tensed in what Zack could only assume was a heated argument. The
Principal shoulders sagged in defeat and the young schemer knew that
the man was the loser in whatever he had been discussing.
Remembering exactly where he was, the older man straightened up and
turned around to face his teenage audience of one.
"Well Zack it looks like I may be able to give you a break after all."
The calculating look on Belding's face did not to bode well for the
young man.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You have to what?" A.C. Slater asked for a second time not sure if
he heard correctly.
Zack Morris rolled his eyes at his athletic friend. The two young men
were sitting in a booth at their favorite hang out, The Max. Right
now Zack wished their food would arrive so Slater would shut the hell
up.
"Belding is going out of town this week-end, so I have to devote my
entire Saturday to entertaining his niece."
Slater choked on the soda he had been drinking from.
"You have to take out his niece?" the young wrestler asked
incredulously.
"Uh-huh." Zack unhappily affirmed.
"You do remember that Saturday night is Kelly's party right?"
"Yup."
"You can't miss it though??"
"Nope."
"Cause that would make you look like the spiteful ex-boyfriend."
Slater concluded.
"Bingo." Zack said with a sigh.
"So you have to go to Kelly's party, in order to not hurt her
feelings. Face her and her current boyfriend with a Belding on your
arm?" The jock started to laugh.
"Slater it is not funny."
"Yeah Preppy it really is," He chuckled dogging the wadded up napkin
that Zack threw at him. "So what are you getting out of the deal?"
"You know my current suspension from the whole Bayside Girls Gone
Wild endeavor?" Slater nodded in response prompting his friend to
continue, "Belding nixed the meeting with my mom, cut my suspension
down two weeks and gave me a ten page research paper to write. Which
of course I can always get Screech or some nerd to do for me. So this
really was an offer I couldn't refuse."
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I know you, Zack Morris. You always have some scheme up your
sleeve, what are you going to do to get out of this?"
"There's nothing I can do. I was going to get Screech to fill in but
he's also leaving town this weekend. And get this; Belding actually
printed my id picture out so his niece would be able to recognize me.
Never thought he'd be able to think of that on his own." Zack said a
tad bit frustrated that Belding had one-upped him.
"Damn Preppy, so you're really stuck with the Femi-Beldi huh? Well I
really can't say I envy you."
"No Shit Slater."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Willow Rosenberg was incredibly nervous. She was going to have to
spend the entire day with some guy she didn't know because her aunt
and uncle were abandoning her. Okay the word abandon was a bit
strong, but they were still leaving her. It's not like she'd never
been left alone, God knew how many times Sheila and Ira had done it,
but her Uncle Richard and Aunt Elizabeth were the total opposites of
her parents. The redhead still found it difficult to believe that her
mother and her uncle Richard were raised in the same family. He was
so warm and affectionate and Sheila was.not.
Quite surprisingly Willow's parents had sent her packing for a three
week vacation to Bayside, California muttering something about her
needing to spend time with extended family to deepen familial bonds
and some other psychological crap that Willow did not care to
remember. She just found it amusing that her parents felt it was
necessary to send their only child away from them in order to instill
into her a greater sense of family. Ass backward logic if you asked
her. Of course they never did.
Not that the redhead was begrudging her holiday away from the
Hellmouth. Bayside actually was the quaint Californian town that
Sunny Dale pretended to be. She'd been there for a few days now and
had been having a great time with her aunt and uncle. They paid
attention to her and actually enjoyed her company. It was a
refreshing change from being neglected. But this had brought her to
her current dilemma. Uncle Richard and Aunt Liz had to leave town all
the sudden but worried about leaving her alone. She tried to reassure
them that it was perfectly fine and that she was use to it but they
remained unconvinced. While they didn't doubt her maturity, they
wanted her to have fun and meet people. They were just so good to
her, it was hard to say no, which was why she didn't.
So Uncle Richard roped some poor kid to be her babysitter for the
day. Someone please shoot her now. This had a high potential for
embarrassment. Upon learning of her aunt and uncle's plans, Willow
had insisted on knowing what the kid would look like so she wouldn't
be going into it totally blind. Her nerves were shot enough as it
was. The picture her uncle had handed her was of a boy, a cute one
too. Oh God it was hard enough to handle meeting new people, let
alone cute boys. Willow didn't do cute boys. No pun intended.
Willow was pacing the length of her bedroom as she waited for this
Zack person to show up. Maybe she should fake an illness or
something? As soon as the idea came to her the doorbell rang. Damn
the luck, it must be him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Zack stood on the other side of the door cursing his bad fortune. The
unfavorable predicament he now found himself in should teach him a
lesson and if he ever figured it out, he'd shout it from the
rooftops. Deciding that the girl was taking too long, the teen made
to leave but stopped when he heard the door swing open. Crap. Zack
plastered a phony smile on his face before turning around to meet his
executioner, err date.
"Hi I'm Zack Morris." He said checking her out from head to toe. She
was a redhead not bad looking either. Sort of cute in that way too
young and innocent way he concluded. She wore bright red corduroy
pants topped with a fuzzy green three-quarter sleeved shirt.
Something about her cast off a geek vibe, maybe Zack would introduce
her to Screech once this whole ordeal was over.
"Hi I'm Willow Rosenberg." She said. "Uh look um I really want to
thank you for agreeing to take me out today. I know you're probably
really busy, so it was really nice of you to do this. Uncle Richard
and especially Aunt Liz want me to meet people my own age. So if you
hadn't of said yes I'd probably be sitting up in this big ole house
all by myself, not that I mind being home alone, I'm use to it. It's
not like I'm going to go throw a massive party or dance around in my
under wear like Tom Cruise did in that movie.cause I saw it last
night and it was a really good movie and oh God I'm babbling." Willow
blushed a deep red when she realized the young man was staring at her
strangely.
Zack had barely been able to follow that. "Okay," he slowly drawled
wondering how she had been able to get that all out in one breath. He
really was going to have to find away to pay Belding back for
this. "Your welcome and it's really not a problem. Look my car is
over there so why don't we get in and we'll talk about our plans for
the day." He said unenthusiastically.
The red-faced girl simply nodded and followed him to the vehicle.
~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*
`Smooth just smooth Rosenberg', Willow thought as she watched the
scenery roll by. Put her in the presence of a hot guy and watch her
fizzle. This time though, it wasn't completely her fault. The guy
just blatantly inspected her like a like she was a car or something
it made her nervous. It was times like these where she wished she
were a bit more like her blonde friend. Buffy never got flustered
with guys. Human ones anyway.
The red head spared a glance at the car's driver. He looked like the
type that Cordelia would go for. He was handsome in that tanned blond
surfer type way. He exuded confidence and drove a convertible. This
was exactly the kind of guy the cheerleader would go for. Which
probably meant that he was a jerk, God why was she here again?
They had yet to really speak and it was now getting a bit
awkward. `What the hell' Willow thought, `he probably has me pegged
as a nerd already.'
"So.what do you have in store for me today?" She asked.
This seemed to shake him out of his reverie. "I was thinking of
taking you to an amusement park, but if you're not down with that, we
can come up with something else."
Willow gave a smile at that; an amusement park was something she
could handle. "Yeah that sounds fine."
"And then a party later at night." Zack quickly mumbled.
"What?"
"A party later." He repeated.
"Uh Zack I know you don't know me too well cause we just met like
five minutes ago, but me and parties and new people don't mix so I'm
going to have to pass."
Oh no, there was no chance in hell he'd be reverting back to his
original school punishment. Time to pull out the old Zack Morris
charm. "Everyone will be cool, I promise you'll have a great time."
He assured her throwing a sexy wink in her direction for added
measure.
Willow turned her eyes away, looking anywhere but at him. She could
feel her face heat up. Oh no she was blushing.again. Damn it she had
finally gotten control of herself and he had to go and do that.
Conceited bastard. Did she mention how much Cordelia would like him?
"Why don't we go to the movies instead?" Willow suggested. Where it
was dark and talking prohibitive.
"No, I just think we'll have a better time at the party." He insisted.
Willow frowned she did not understand why he was pushing this. "Well
if it's so important, you can go I have no problem with that."
She wasn't falling for it as easily as he had expected her to.
Desperately the blond young man began to plead with the redhead.
"Willow please you have to come, everyone knows about the party so
Belding's expecting me to---
Willow immediately caught on. "Expecting you to what," the redhead
demanded. "Show his poor little niece a good time or else?"
Zack must be off today, there was no other reason for why he just
fucked up the way he did. He sighed in defeat.
"Willow I didn't mean to hurt."
"Don't say things you don't mean." She said cutting him off.
Once again Willow took to looking out her window. She refused to cry.
Not in the presence this blonde surfer boy. Asshole. The atmosphere
in the car became extremely tense neither person said a word.
Zack stared ahead at the road, tightly gripping the steering wheel in
his hands. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her blinking her eyes
rapidly as if to keep from tears. He didn't mean to hurt her
feelings. "I'm Sorry."
The redhead shifted to face the blond. His eyes remained intent on
the road, her intense scrutiny causing him to feel uneasy. After a
moment Willow turned away from him to focus on the traffic ahead.
"Good you should be." She nodded. "Now what time will you be picking
me up?"
"What?" Zack was confused.
"What time are you taking me to the party?" She clarified.
Zack couldn't believe she was willing to go. "You want to go with me?
Why? Shouldn't you be really mad at me and you're uncle?"
"Yes but despite his machiavellian tactics I know my uncle has my
best interests at heart. As for you I can see that you're apology was
sincere so I guess I'll cut you some slack and just go." Willow said.
"What? And why do you think I need slack?" He was still not following
her logic.
"Let's just say I have some experience with pushy principals." She
supplied.
"Belding told me that you're a quiet straight A student. He also
threatened me with death if I corrupted you," Zack gave the sweet
looking girl a once over. "There is no way you've had even a day of
detention."
"Straight A student, yes. Quiet, again yes. Not one day of
detention? Please." Willow snorted. "With the friends I hang around
with detention is like my second home."
"No way." Zack said skeptically.
"Way." Willow confirmed. "Our principal totally has it in for us,
especially for my friend Buffy. Principal Sneider has made it his
personal mission to straighten out the undesirable elements in his
school, namely us. Even when he doesn't have a slightly legit reason
to toss our asses in detention, he still makes us `volunteer' for his
various projects. Which I figure is what happened to you. So spit it
out what did you do?"
"Hey what makes you think I did something?" Zack queried slightly
offended.
"Simple unlike my principal, Uncle Richard is neither unfair nor
evil. You had to have done something. Besides the bad boy vibe rolls
off you in waves." Willow added off hand. Did she just say that?
Stopping at a red light, Zack used the opportunity to turn around to
give Willow the most innocent look he could muster.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." He sniffed.
Willow took a good look at the wide-eyed routine and burst out
laughing. "You are so full of it. You look like Xander did when I
caught him watching porn. He tried to look all innocent-like and told
me it was for `research purposes', but come on I had caught him red
handed so to speak. "
That did it. Zack lost his composure and laughed right along with the
redhead. "Okay fine," the blond teen conceded when they both calmed
down. "Let's just say a website and the girl's volley ball team was
involved."
"Oh.okay enough said."
"Yeah."
Once again the convertible filled with silence, although this time it
was a more comfortable one than the last. A few minutes passed by
before Zack broke the silence with a question.
"Willow?"
"Yeah Zack?"
The blond young man's handsome face broke out into a devilish smile
once he caught the redhead's eye. "You think I'm a bad boy?" He asked
suggestively.
Why oh why was she a natural born blusher?
~*~*~*~**~*~*~~**~*
Willow stood in a towel trying to decide what to wear for the party.
She chewed on her lip as she looked from one garment to the other and
then back again. On the right lay a long sleeved purple dress with a
flower-patterned design that stopped a few inches above her knee.
Typical Willow wear.
The left held what she dubbed as the alterna-outfit. When she and
Buffy had gone clothes shopping for The Halloween Gone Horribly Bad,
Willow purchased two outfits because she couldn't decide between them
at the time. She ended up wearing the black mini skirt for Halloween
and forgot all about the slinky number currently lying on her bed.
Buffy had found it when she was helping her pack for Bayside. Willow
had initially refused to pack it claiming that there would be no need
to bring it along, but the slayer would have none of it. It wouldn't
hurt to just take it along she argued. The blonde held the outfit in
her hands and sat the redhead down.
/"Willow, people like to live in comfortable little boxes. These
boxes don't mean that they're happy, only safe." The slayer said.
"Hey I like being safe." Willow protested.
"But you can only learn and grow if you're willing to take risks."
The blonde insisted.
"I take risks."
"Of a non-hellmouth related nature?"
"Um uh.define risks."
"See? If you truly want things to change, you're going to have to
make them happen. Push beyond those safe boundaries. You think my
sort of dating a vampire qualifies as safe?" Willow shook her head in
the negative at the slayer's inquiry. "Exactly, no, but I'm taking
the risk anyway for a chance at something wonderful even if it is
temporary.and kind of dangerous."
"But Buffy." The redhead attempted to interrupt.
"No," Came the command. "You are Willow Rosenberg and you are above
mediocrity. You owe it to yourself to wear this slightly skanky
outfit."
"So I can look like a ho?" Willow asked in confusion.
"No! So you can see who you really are when you step outside that
comfortable box," The slayer proclaimed while energetically waving
the outfit over her head./
Buffy could be incredibly profound at the oddest moments, fashion did
that to her. "Hope your right Buff." Willow whispered to herself as
she gathered the courage to select the second outfit.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Once again Zack made his way to Mr. Belding's porch. He rang the
doorbell and waited for the young lady inside. This time he was
ready, completely at ease with who his guest for the party would be.
When he had chosen to take her to the amusement park, he picked the
spot solely on the basis that he would encounter few of his friends
there. To Zack's surprise, however, he enjoyed the time he had spent
with Willow. At some point they had ended up sitting on a bench
somewhere just talking. He hadn't enjoyed talking to a girl so much
since Kelly. Willow had a great sense of humor. She was also
incredibly smart, not just book smart, but clever too. She kept
catching his bullshit and calling him on it. Something Bambi or Tammy
would never have the brain cells to do. And he kept making blush, it
was just so adorable the colors she would turn. Screech would
definitely like her. She was a cute kid.
Zack's musings were cut short when the door in front of him opened
and Willow Rosenberg stepped out of it.
"Hi Zack."
Zack's jaw hit the floor at the sight before him. The girl who had
gotten into his car earlier that afternoon was not the woman he saw
tonight. He couldn't help but stare. Once again he took in her form
from top to bottom, this time with a new sense of appreciation. Her
long red hair had been pulled into an elegant French twist with soft
tendrils framing her face. Her eyes looked just. amazing. Zack's eyes
traveled downwards to see that the rest of her continued the theme.
Willow's beige ribbed tube top stopped just below her belly button to
show off her trim tummy. Her white knee length skirt sat low on her
hips hugging all the right places. The journey ended with strappy
beige sandals that emphasized her shapely legs. Good Lord.
"Zack?"
"Huh?"
"Are you okay?"
"Sure." He said slightly dazed.
"Zack!"
Okay that snapped him out of it. "Oh sorry Willow. You just look so
amazing, I forgot myself." He stuttered. Look at that Zack Morris
getting flustered by someone he had considered Screech worthy just a
few minutes prior.
Willow looked slightly shocked at the compliment. She blushed and
looked down at the ground. "Thank you." She replied shyly. Oh yeah
this was the same redhead.
"Well then shall we leave my lady?" Zack said with a formal bow.
Giggling Willow curtsied in kind. "We shall kind sir."
~*~**~*~*~**~*
They parked across the street from a house that bumped with a hip-hop
beat and rocked with an energetic force.
"You sure you want to do this?" Zack asked. Now that they were
actually there he didn't want her too feel pressured into anything
she didn't want to do. A pretty kamikaze type thing to do considering
what the consequences will be should she decide to turn back, but he
didn't care.
`Push the comfort boundaries.' She thought. Willow looked at the
house in determination. "Yeah I can do this." She said taking a deep
breath to calm her nerves.
"Positive?"
"Yes I'm positive now let's go before I change my mind." The red head
grabbed his hand leading them both to the party. Willow didn't know
where this burst of courage and confidence had come from. Did Buffy's
speech inspire her more than she originally thought? Maybe her
clothing was possessed again. Or perhaps it did her some good to know
that a cute boy found her to be hot as well. She did note that the
young man trailing behind her seemed to find her ass extremely
interesting.
~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~
".And then Candy actually wore the shoes that totally clashed with
her blouse, it was so bad. I mean oh my gosh couldn't you just die."
A.C. Slater sat on a sofa nodding to whatever the pretty blonde was
talking about. It was just so hard to pay attention when Ginger's
conversational skills mainly consisted of wondering if there was
lipstick on her teeth. The girl was so lucky that she was hot.
A flurry of shouts and greetings let the wrestling star know that his
friend Zack had just arrived. Thank God a plausible excuse to
leave. "Hey Ginger I have to ask Zack about something important, but
we'll talk later."
"Okay." Came the vapid response.
Slater rolled his eyes as he made his escape. Once Zack came into his
sights, however, Slater couldn't keep the grin off his face. Zack had
his arm around the waist of some hot redhead. `That dog,' he
thought. `I wonder how he got rid of Belding's niece?'
"Yo Preppy." He called out.
"Hey Slater." Zack greeted. They then did that man hug/hand shake
thingy that men did so well.
"So who is your lovely friend?" The jock couldn't help but ask. The
girl blushed. Very cute.
"This is Willow.Belding's niece." Zack smugly answered.
"You're Belding's niece?" Slater gaped. How the hell did Zack always
luck out like this?
"Uh huh and you are?" Willow politely asked.
"A.C. Slater, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Thanks likewise."
"I swear I have to get detention more often." Slater muttered.
"Pardon?" Willow didn't quite hear what he had said.
"Oh nothing." Slater covered.
Zack did, he snickered knowing that his friend was regretting the
words he spoke that day at The Max.
~*~*~*~**~**~*
The rest of the night went off without a hitch. Willow got along
wonderfully with his friends once she relaxed. Lisa simply adored
Willow's outfit. Ever the fashionista, Lisa managed to convince
Willow to go shopping with her. Zack did not envy the redhead there;
Lisa was a hardcore shopper. He'd gone shopping with her once before
and barely survived to tell the tale.
There was some friction between Jessie and his date, however. That
thing Willow had with calling people on their bullshit, she did it
with Jessie. The student council president had once again gone off on
Slater about how he and the rest of mankind were chauvinist pigs.
Willow chose that moment to politely point out to the strawberry
blonde that it was just as sexist of her to make sweeping
generalizations about an entire sex because she didn't like what one
of its members had to say. Jessie didn't take that too well and now
plans to engage Willow in a `friendly' debate on feminism.
Not surprisingly Willow and Kelly got along superbly. They were both
very sweet girls and bonded on their mutual love of all things Sailor
moon. He didn't see that coming but it was adorable. Zack would have
appreciated the scene better if Kelly's boyfriend, Jeff, weren't
there. While Zack was finally over the brunette and content with just
being friends, it didn't mean he had to like the asshole that split
them up.
There was one thing, however, that he had learned from his former
girlfriend it was always to look at the bright side of things. After
all if he and Kelly hadn't of broken up he wouldn't have discovered
Willow. He liked Willow.
~*~**~*~*~*~*~
Willow not only pushed her boundaries, she fucking trampled them.
Buffy would be so proud. She voluntarily wore the alterna-outfit.
Went to Kelly's party with a cute guy, danced with that cute guy and
did not spazz. She had had fun with popular kids who would have
snubbed her had it been Sunny Dale. The night had been amazing, the
redhead was almost sad to see it end. Wait Willow was wrong; the end
of the party was the best part of the night.
The moon was full and the stars were bright. It had been an hour and
a half since Zack had brought her home, but they were still on
Richard Belding's porch talking. His arms wrapped around her, keeping
her warm against the chill in the air. She sat in Zack's lap content
to hear his heartbeat. Where she was from heartbeats were very good.
A small smile remained poised on her lips as they discussed the finer
points of hacking into school computer systems.
Author: Marie
Pairing: Willow/Zack Morris
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns BTVS and Willow. Same goes for Peter
Angel Owning Zack and Saved By The Bell. I lay no claim. I make no
cash. Don't sue me.
Spoilers: Set in season 2 of BTVS goes AU after the Halloween
Episode. Oz? Oz who? SBTB is harder. Lord knows they spent like six
years in high school. I guess it's set in Zack's junior year. There's
an itty bitty little spoiler but if you haven't seen every episode of
this show like 80 times over and hate being spoiled don't read.
Summary: Mr. Belding has a job for Zack.
A/N 1: Anything between / / takes place in the past.
A/N 2: A bit inspired by Jinni's odd couples challenge plus.I've yet
to see a BTVS crossover with this show so I just decided to go for
it. And I heart Zack Morris. Immature I know, but he makes me revert
to the giddy 9 year-old I was back in the day. Also I will do
apparently anything to keep from doing my school work.
"That's it Morris, this latest escapade is going to cost you two
months of detention." The stern principal declared.
"Two months! Mr. Belding I swear that the Bayside Girl's Volley Ball
website I set up was only meant to instill pride in our school's
athletic program. Any profit made was purely accidental." The
teenager protested.
Richard Belding shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose
wondering how he could like a kid that just aggravated the hell out
of him.
"Zack your detention stands and we'll both be meeting with your
mother. That way you can explain to her all your creative ideas of
what constitutes school pride."
Zack's eyes widened at the implications of what the principal just
told him.
"Oh but Mr. Belding you can't, my mom will kill me."
"Good hopefully she'll let me watch."
"But sir."
The ring of a cell phone cut off Zack's pleading. It wouldn't be his
phone that was for damn sure. The school had this stupid rule banning
cell phone use on school grounds. Zack looked expectantly at his
principal, since it was his pocket that was ringing. Mr. Belding had
the decency to look a little sheepish at being caught breaking a
school rule.
Mr. Belding answered his phone. He turned his back to the teenager to
speak to his wife. Zack could tell it was the missus from all
the "but honeys" he heard Belding say. He watched as the principal's
body tensed in what Zack could only assume was a heated argument. The
Principal shoulders sagged in defeat and the young schemer knew that
the man was the loser in whatever he had been discussing.
Remembering exactly where he was, the older man straightened up and
turned around to face his teenage audience of one.
"Well Zack it looks like I may be able to give you a break after all."
The calculating look on Belding's face did not to bode well for the
young man.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You have to what?" A.C. Slater asked for a second time not sure if
he heard correctly.
Zack Morris rolled his eyes at his athletic friend. The two young men
were sitting in a booth at their favorite hang out, The Max. Right
now Zack wished their food would arrive so Slater would shut the hell
up.
"Belding is going out of town this week-end, so I have to devote my
entire Saturday to entertaining his niece."
Slater choked on the soda he had been drinking from.
"You have to take out his niece?" the young wrestler asked
incredulously.
"Uh-huh." Zack unhappily affirmed.
"You do remember that Saturday night is Kelly's party right?"
"Yup."
"You can't miss it though??"
"Nope."
"Cause that would make you look like the spiteful ex-boyfriend."
Slater concluded.
"Bingo." Zack said with a sigh.
"So you have to go to Kelly's party, in order to not hurt her
feelings. Face her and her current boyfriend with a Belding on your
arm?" The jock started to laugh.
"Slater it is not funny."
"Yeah Preppy it really is," He chuckled dogging the wadded up napkin
that Zack threw at him. "So what are you getting out of the deal?"
"You know my current suspension from the whole Bayside Girls Gone
Wild endeavor?" Slater nodded in response prompting his friend to
continue, "Belding nixed the meeting with my mom, cut my suspension
down two weeks and gave me a ten page research paper to write. Which
of course I can always get Screech or some nerd to do for me. So this
really was an offer I couldn't refuse."
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I know you, Zack Morris. You always have some scheme up your
sleeve, what are you going to do to get out of this?"
"There's nothing I can do. I was going to get Screech to fill in but
he's also leaving town this weekend. And get this; Belding actually
printed my id picture out so his niece would be able to recognize me.
Never thought he'd be able to think of that on his own." Zack said a
tad bit frustrated that Belding had one-upped him.
"Damn Preppy, so you're really stuck with the Femi-Beldi huh? Well I
really can't say I envy you."
"No Shit Slater."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Willow Rosenberg was incredibly nervous. She was going to have to
spend the entire day with some guy she didn't know because her aunt
and uncle were abandoning her. Okay the word abandon was a bit
strong, but they were still leaving her. It's not like she'd never
been left alone, God knew how many times Sheila and Ira had done it,
but her Uncle Richard and Aunt Elizabeth were the total opposites of
her parents. The redhead still found it difficult to believe that her
mother and her uncle Richard were raised in the same family. He was
so warm and affectionate and Sheila was.not.
Quite surprisingly Willow's parents had sent her packing for a three
week vacation to Bayside, California muttering something about her
needing to spend time with extended family to deepen familial bonds
and some other psychological crap that Willow did not care to
remember. She just found it amusing that her parents felt it was
necessary to send their only child away from them in order to instill
into her a greater sense of family. Ass backward logic if you asked
her. Of course they never did.
Not that the redhead was begrudging her holiday away from the
Hellmouth. Bayside actually was the quaint Californian town that
Sunny Dale pretended to be. She'd been there for a few days now and
had been having a great time with her aunt and uncle. They paid
attention to her and actually enjoyed her company. It was a
refreshing change from being neglected. But this had brought her to
her current dilemma. Uncle Richard and Aunt Liz had to leave town all
the sudden but worried about leaving her alone. She tried to reassure
them that it was perfectly fine and that she was use to it but they
remained unconvinced. While they didn't doubt her maturity, they
wanted her to have fun and meet people. They were just so good to
her, it was hard to say no, which was why she didn't.
So Uncle Richard roped some poor kid to be her babysitter for the
day. Someone please shoot her now. This had a high potential for
embarrassment. Upon learning of her aunt and uncle's plans, Willow
had insisted on knowing what the kid would look like so she wouldn't
be going into it totally blind. Her nerves were shot enough as it
was. The picture her uncle had handed her was of a boy, a cute one
too. Oh God it was hard enough to handle meeting new people, let
alone cute boys. Willow didn't do cute boys. No pun intended.
Willow was pacing the length of her bedroom as she waited for this
Zack person to show up. Maybe she should fake an illness or
something? As soon as the idea came to her the doorbell rang. Damn
the luck, it must be him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Zack stood on the other side of the door cursing his bad fortune. The
unfavorable predicament he now found himself in should teach him a
lesson and if he ever figured it out, he'd shout it from the
rooftops. Deciding that the girl was taking too long, the teen made
to leave but stopped when he heard the door swing open. Crap. Zack
plastered a phony smile on his face before turning around to meet his
executioner, err date.
"Hi I'm Zack Morris." He said checking her out from head to toe. She
was a redhead not bad looking either. Sort of cute in that way too
young and innocent way he concluded. She wore bright red corduroy
pants topped with a fuzzy green three-quarter sleeved shirt.
Something about her cast off a geek vibe, maybe Zack would introduce
her to Screech once this whole ordeal was over.
"Hi I'm Willow Rosenberg." She said. "Uh look um I really want to
thank you for agreeing to take me out today. I know you're probably
really busy, so it was really nice of you to do this. Uncle Richard
and especially Aunt Liz want me to meet people my own age. So if you
hadn't of said yes I'd probably be sitting up in this big ole house
all by myself, not that I mind being home alone, I'm use to it. It's
not like I'm going to go throw a massive party or dance around in my
under wear like Tom Cruise did in that movie.cause I saw it last
night and it was a really good movie and oh God I'm babbling." Willow
blushed a deep red when she realized the young man was staring at her
strangely.
Zack had barely been able to follow that. "Okay," he slowly drawled
wondering how she had been able to get that all out in one breath. He
really was going to have to find away to pay Belding back for
this. "Your welcome and it's really not a problem. Look my car is
over there so why don't we get in and we'll talk about our plans for
the day." He said unenthusiastically.
The red-faced girl simply nodded and followed him to the vehicle.
~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*
`Smooth just smooth Rosenberg', Willow thought as she watched the
scenery roll by. Put her in the presence of a hot guy and watch her
fizzle. This time though, it wasn't completely her fault. The guy
just blatantly inspected her like a like she was a car or something
it made her nervous. It was times like these where she wished she
were a bit more like her blonde friend. Buffy never got flustered
with guys. Human ones anyway.
The red head spared a glance at the car's driver. He looked like the
type that Cordelia would go for. He was handsome in that tanned blond
surfer type way. He exuded confidence and drove a convertible. This
was exactly the kind of guy the cheerleader would go for. Which
probably meant that he was a jerk, God why was she here again?
They had yet to really speak and it was now getting a bit
awkward. `What the hell' Willow thought, `he probably has me pegged
as a nerd already.'
"So.what do you have in store for me today?" She asked.
This seemed to shake him out of his reverie. "I was thinking of
taking you to an amusement park, but if you're not down with that, we
can come up with something else."
Willow gave a smile at that; an amusement park was something she
could handle. "Yeah that sounds fine."
"And then a party later at night." Zack quickly mumbled.
"What?"
"A party later." He repeated.
"Uh Zack I know you don't know me too well cause we just met like
five minutes ago, but me and parties and new people don't mix so I'm
going to have to pass."
Oh no, there was no chance in hell he'd be reverting back to his
original school punishment. Time to pull out the old Zack Morris
charm. "Everyone will be cool, I promise you'll have a great time."
He assured her throwing a sexy wink in her direction for added
measure.
Willow turned her eyes away, looking anywhere but at him. She could
feel her face heat up. Oh no she was blushing.again. Damn it she had
finally gotten control of herself and he had to go and do that.
Conceited bastard. Did she mention how much Cordelia would like him?
"Why don't we go to the movies instead?" Willow suggested. Where it
was dark and talking prohibitive.
"No, I just think we'll have a better time at the party." He insisted.
Willow frowned she did not understand why he was pushing this. "Well
if it's so important, you can go I have no problem with that."
She wasn't falling for it as easily as he had expected her to.
Desperately the blond young man began to plead with the redhead.
"Willow please you have to come, everyone knows about the party so
Belding's expecting me to---
Willow immediately caught on. "Expecting you to what," the redhead
demanded. "Show his poor little niece a good time or else?"
Zack must be off today, there was no other reason for why he just
fucked up the way he did. He sighed in defeat.
"Willow I didn't mean to hurt."
"Don't say things you don't mean." She said cutting him off.
Once again Willow took to looking out her window. She refused to cry.
Not in the presence this blonde surfer boy. Asshole. The atmosphere
in the car became extremely tense neither person said a word.
Zack stared ahead at the road, tightly gripping the steering wheel in
his hands. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her blinking her eyes
rapidly as if to keep from tears. He didn't mean to hurt her
feelings. "I'm Sorry."
The redhead shifted to face the blond. His eyes remained intent on
the road, her intense scrutiny causing him to feel uneasy. After a
moment Willow turned away from him to focus on the traffic ahead.
"Good you should be." She nodded. "Now what time will you be picking
me up?"
"What?" Zack was confused.
"What time are you taking me to the party?" She clarified.
Zack couldn't believe she was willing to go. "You want to go with me?
Why? Shouldn't you be really mad at me and you're uncle?"
"Yes but despite his machiavellian tactics I know my uncle has my
best interests at heart. As for you I can see that you're apology was
sincere so I guess I'll cut you some slack and just go." Willow said.
"What? And why do you think I need slack?" He was still not following
her logic.
"Let's just say I have some experience with pushy principals." She
supplied.
"Belding told me that you're a quiet straight A student. He also
threatened me with death if I corrupted you," Zack gave the sweet
looking girl a once over. "There is no way you've had even a day of
detention."
"Straight A student, yes. Quiet, again yes. Not one day of
detention? Please." Willow snorted. "With the friends I hang around
with detention is like my second home."
"No way." Zack said skeptically.
"Way." Willow confirmed. "Our principal totally has it in for us,
especially for my friend Buffy. Principal Sneider has made it his
personal mission to straighten out the undesirable elements in his
school, namely us. Even when he doesn't have a slightly legit reason
to toss our asses in detention, he still makes us `volunteer' for his
various projects. Which I figure is what happened to you. So spit it
out what did you do?"
"Hey what makes you think I did something?" Zack queried slightly
offended.
"Simple unlike my principal, Uncle Richard is neither unfair nor
evil. You had to have done something. Besides the bad boy vibe rolls
off you in waves." Willow added off hand. Did she just say that?
Stopping at a red light, Zack used the opportunity to turn around to
give Willow the most innocent look he could muster.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." He sniffed.
Willow took a good look at the wide-eyed routine and burst out
laughing. "You are so full of it. You look like Xander did when I
caught him watching porn. He tried to look all innocent-like and told
me it was for `research purposes', but come on I had caught him red
handed so to speak. "
That did it. Zack lost his composure and laughed right along with the
redhead. "Okay fine," the blond teen conceded when they both calmed
down. "Let's just say a website and the girl's volley ball team was
involved."
"Oh.okay enough said."
"Yeah."
Once again the convertible filled with silence, although this time it
was a more comfortable one than the last. A few minutes passed by
before Zack broke the silence with a question.
"Willow?"
"Yeah Zack?"
The blond young man's handsome face broke out into a devilish smile
once he caught the redhead's eye. "You think I'm a bad boy?" He asked
suggestively.
Why oh why was she a natural born blusher?
~*~*~*~**~*~*~~**~*
Willow stood in a towel trying to decide what to wear for the party.
She chewed on her lip as she looked from one garment to the other and
then back again. On the right lay a long sleeved purple dress with a
flower-patterned design that stopped a few inches above her knee.
Typical Willow wear.
The left held what she dubbed as the alterna-outfit. When she and
Buffy had gone clothes shopping for The Halloween Gone Horribly Bad,
Willow purchased two outfits because she couldn't decide between them
at the time. She ended up wearing the black mini skirt for Halloween
and forgot all about the slinky number currently lying on her bed.
Buffy had found it when she was helping her pack for Bayside. Willow
had initially refused to pack it claiming that there would be no need
to bring it along, but the slayer would have none of it. It wouldn't
hurt to just take it along she argued. The blonde held the outfit in
her hands and sat the redhead down.
/"Willow, people like to live in comfortable little boxes. These
boxes don't mean that they're happy, only safe." The slayer said.
"Hey I like being safe." Willow protested.
"But you can only learn and grow if you're willing to take risks."
The blonde insisted.
"I take risks."
"Of a non-hellmouth related nature?"
"Um uh.define risks."
"See? If you truly want things to change, you're going to have to
make them happen. Push beyond those safe boundaries. You think my
sort of dating a vampire qualifies as safe?" Willow shook her head in
the negative at the slayer's inquiry. "Exactly, no, but I'm taking
the risk anyway for a chance at something wonderful even if it is
temporary.and kind of dangerous."
"But Buffy." The redhead attempted to interrupt.
"No," Came the command. "You are Willow Rosenberg and you are above
mediocrity. You owe it to yourself to wear this slightly skanky
outfit."
"So I can look like a ho?" Willow asked in confusion.
"No! So you can see who you really are when you step outside that
comfortable box," The slayer proclaimed while energetically waving
the outfit over her head./
Buffy could be incredibly profound at the oddest moments, fashion did
that to her. "Hope your right Buff." Willow whispered to herself as
she gathered the courage to select the second outfit.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Once again Zack made his way to Mr. Belding's porch. He rang the
doorbell and waited for the young lady inside. This time he was
ready, completely at ease with who his guest for the party would be.
When he had chosen to take her to the amusement park, he picked the
spot solely on the basis that he would encounter few of his friends
there. To Zack's surprise, however, he enjoyed the time he had spent
with Willow. At some point they had ended up sitting on a bench
somewhere just talking. He hadn't enjoyed talking to a girl so much
since Kelly. Willow had a great sense of humor. She was also
incredibly smart, not just book smart, but clever too. She kept
catching his bullshit and calling him on it. Something Bambi or Tammy
would never have the brain cells to do. And he kept making blush, it
was just so adorable the colors she would turn. Screech would
definitely like her. She was a cute kid.
Zack's musings were cut short when the door in front of him opened
and Willow Rosenberg stepped out of it.
"Hi Zack."
Zack's jaw hit the floor at the sight before him. The girl who had
gotten into his car earlier that afternoon was not the woman he saw
tonight. He couldn't help but stare. Once again he took in her form
from top to bottom, this time with a new sense of appreciation. Her
long red hair had been pulled into an elegant French twist with soft
tendrils framing her face. Her eyes looked just. amazing. Zack's eyes
traveled downwards to see that the rest of her continued the theme.
Willow's beige ribbed tube top stopped just below her belly button to
show off her trim tummy. Her white knee length skirt sat low on her
hips hugging all the right places. The journey ended with strappy
beige sandals that emphasized her shapely legs. Good Lord.
"Zack?"
"Huh?"
"Are you okay?"
"Sure." He said slightly dazed.
"Zack!"
Okay that snapped him out of it. "Oh sorry Willow. You just look so
amazing, I forgot myself." He stuttered. Look at that Zack Morris
getting flustered by someone he had considered Screech worthy just a
few minutes prior.
Willow looked slightly shocked at the compliment. She blushed and
looked down at the ground. "Thank you." She replied shyly. Oh yeah
this was the same redhead.
"Well then shall we leave my lady?" Zack said with a formal bow.
Giggling Willow curtsied in kind. "We shall kind sir."
~*~**~*~*~**~*
They parked across the street from a house that bumped with a hip-hop
beat and rocked with an energetic force.
"You sure you want to do this?" Zack asked. Now that they were
actually there he didn't want her too feel pressured into anything
she didn't want to do. A pretty kamikaze type thing to do considering
what the consequences will be should she decide to turn back, but he
didn't care.
`Push the comfort boundaries.' She thought. Willow looked at the
house in determination. "Yeah I can do this." She said taking a deep
breath to calm her nerves.
"Positive?"
"Yes I'm positive now let's go before I change my mind." The red head
grabbed his hand leading them both to the party. Willow didn't know
where this burst of courage and confidence had come from. Did Buffy's
speech inspire her more than she originally thought? Maybe her
clothing was possessed again. Or perhaps it did her some good to know
that a cute boy found her to be hot as well. She did note that the
young man trailing behind her seemed to find her ass extremely
interesting.
~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~
".And then Candy actually wore the shoes that totally clashed with
her blouse, it was so bad. I mean oh my gosh couldn't you just die."
A.C. Slater sat on a sofa nodding to whatever the pretty blonde was
talking about. It was just so hard to pay attention when Ginger's
conversational skills mainly consisted of wondering if there was
lipstick on her teeth. The girl was so lucky that she was hot.
A flurry of shouts and greetings let the wrestling star know that his
friend Zack had just arrived. Thank God a plausible excuse to
leave. "Hey Ginger I have to ask Zack about something important, but
we'll talk later."
"Okay." Came the vapid response.
Slater rolled his eyes as he made his escape. Once Zack came into his
sights, however, Slater couldn't keep the grin off his face. Zack had
his arm around the waist of some hot redhead. `That dog,' he
thought. `I wonder how he got rid of Belding's niece?'
"Yo Preppy." He called out.
"Hey Slater." Zack greeted. They then did that man hug/hand shake
thingy that men did so well.
"So who is your lovely friend?" The jock couldn't help but ask. The
girl blushed. Very cute.
"This is Willow.Belding's niece." Zack smugly answered.
"You're Belding's niece?" Slater gaped. How the hell did Zack always
luck out like this?
"Uh huh and you are?" Willow politely asked.
"A.C. Slater, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Thanks likewise."
"I swear I have to get detention more often." Slater muttered.
"Pardon?" Willow didn't quite hear what he had said.
"Oh nothing." Slater covered.
Zack did, he snickered knowing that his friend was regretting the
words he spoke that day at The Max.
~*~*~*~**~**~*
The rest of the night went off without a hitch. Willow got along
wonderfully with his friends once she relaxed. Lisa simply adored
Willow's outfit. Ever the fashionista, Lisa managed to convince
Willow to go shopping with her. Zack did not envy the redhead there;
Lisa was a hardcore shopper. He'd gone shopping with her once before
and barely survived to tell the tale.
There was some friction between Jessie and his date, however. That
thing Willow had with calling people on their bullshit, she did it
with Jessie. The student council president had once again gone off on
Slater about how he and the rest of mankind were chauvinist pigs.
Willow chose that moment to politely point out to the strawberry
blonde that it was just as sexist of her to make sweeping
generalizations about an entire sex because she didn't like what one
of its members had to say. Jessie didn't take that too well and now
plans to engage Willow in a `friendly' debate on feminism.
Not surprisingly Willow and Kelly got along superbly. They were both
very sweet girls and bonded on their mutual love of all things Sailor
moon. He didn't see that coming but it was adorable. Zack would have
appreciated the scene better if Kelly's boyfriend, Jeff, weren't
there. While Zack was finally over the brunette and content with just
being friends, it didn't mean he had to like the asshole that split
them up.
There was one thing, however, that he had learned from his former
girlfriend it was always to look at the bright side of things. After
all if he and Kelly hadn't of broken up he wouldn't have discovered
Willow. He liked Willow.
~*~**~*~*~*~*~
Willow not only pushed her boundaries, she fucking trampled them.
Buffy would be so proud. She voluntarily wore the alterna-outfit.
Went to Kelly's party with a cute guy, danced with that cute guy and
did not spazz. She had had fun with popular kids who would have
snubbed her had it been Sunny Dale. The night had been amazing, the
redhead was almost sad to see it end. Wait Willow was wrong; the end
of the party was the best part of the night.
The moon was full and the stars were bright. It had been an hour and
a half since Zack had brought her home, but they were still on
Richard Belding's porch talking. His arms wrapped around her, keeping
her warm against the chill in the air. She sat in Zack's lap content
to hear his heartbeat. Where she was from heartbeats were very good.
A small smile remained poised on her lips as they discussed the finer
points of hacking into school computer systems.