Peter Sensei

"Go Away Chloe! Leave Me Alone!" Zack half-cried half-sobbed. "Leave Me Alone!"

"Sorry, but I'm not that pretty." Peter tried to joke.

"I thought you were her." Zack sniffled.

"She wanted to come but Taylor and Hannah wouldn't let her," Peter explained as he sat down on the log bench next to Zack, opened up the cooler, and started to mix a few drinks. "We thought you might feel better talking to me."

They sat there, silently for a few moments while Peter pulled out a few cups and bottles. "So..." he started saying "You like Vicky?"

"I... I.... I love her." Zack sniffled "I love her and I screwed up! I never should have done that! I knew it wasn't the right moment! I never should have listened to them."

Peter sighed and put an arm around Zack's shoulder and passed him some tissues to blow his nose. Then he handed him a drink. "Drink this and tell me what happened."

Zack took the cup and raised it to his mouth when he caught a whiff of something. "What is this?" he asked Peter looking skeptically at the cup.

"Just rum and coke." Peter shrugged.

"Geez Peter?" Zack said looking at Peter with distrusting eyes, "Are you trying to poison me?"

"No, just trying to help you loosen up and relax." Peter said "But if you don't want it... more for me." he said pouring Zack another cup of just coke and switching with Zack.

"So you had a crush on Vicky?" Peter started again.

"I love her and now she hates me. Now she thinks I'm some sort of pervert because I kissed her. I knew I shouldn't have done that. I knew it wasn't the right moment. I never...." Zack said trailing off.

"You're not a pervert because you kissed her." Peter said sympathetically "There's nothing wrong with what you did. You know, I did the same thing."

"You kissed Vicky!?" Zack said in shock.

"NOOO!! I didn't!" Peter laughed. "I did the same thing you did. I saw a chance and I took it. I was dancing with Hannah at a party and... I just kissed her. Just like you did." He didn't tell Zack that Hannah had been shamelessly flirting with him for quite some time before he finally made his move, 'no need to go into those details now' Peter thought.

"Really!" Zack said in surprise, "And what happened? What did she do?"

"She kissed me back," Peter said wistfully, "and an hour later we were both naked in the back seat of the car." he watched the open-eyed look of surprise on Zack's face and smiled, "See," Peter said, "You didn't do anything wrong. She! She over-reacted. Why?" Peter shrugged and said, "Maybe the girls can tell us later. but it doesn't really matter."

"But she thinks I've been stalking her!" Zack said desperately, his eyes darting to the cabin "Everyone gonna think I'm a pervert or something! It's gonna be all over the school and-"

"-Oh I don't think so," Peter chuckled and took another gulp from his drink, "Your Chloe seemed damm determined to give her a piece of her mind and clear up that misunderstanding! And I'm pretty sure that with Taylor, Hannah, and especially Ashley to back her up..." Peter shook his head "... nobody is going to think that about you. Actually, I think you're going to have a few brownie points working for you with the girls after tonight."

Zack's eye's lit up with hope, he glanced back up at the cabin and said. "So if they tell her I'm not that stalker maybe I still have a chance and I can explain and...-"

"-sorry," Peter said sadly while shaking his head. "Hate to tell you but... I don't think there's any coming back from something like that." He saw Zack's dejected look return and tears start to well up in his eyes and decided on a different tack.

"C'mon let's get a fire started before it gets too chilly and then we can talk some more," Peter said getting up. In a few minutes, Zack had a fire going in the pit and they both sat looking over the lake.

The moon was hanging low over the horizon and in a few days they would have a full moon. The moonlight bounced over the calm waters of the lake giving it a silvery sheen with gave the lake its name, Silver Lake. Peter and Zack sat in silence for a few minutes with their drinks, Zack with another coke and Peter with another rum and coke.

Peter knew he had to find a way to help Zack get over his angst with Victoria and get over the 7 steps of depression and the 5 steps of grief 'or was it 5 steps of depression and 7 steps of grief?' he thought before mentally shrugging and took a deep breath and gave it his best shot.

"So..." Peter started to say, "what was it that you like about Vicky?"

"Oh She's perfect!" Zack said with enthusiasm, "She's beautiful and kind and she's really smart, She's just like the best..., And she likes mysteries, I mean I know she in journalism and with the Busy Bear but that's because she likes investigating things and so she likes mysteries like me,"

Peter raised an eyebrow at that last comment and said "What else do you think you two have in common?"

"Well, she likes cats," Zack said and stopped when he saw Peter tilt his head and raise an eyebrow, "I mean I know she doesn't have a cat but she must like cats, all girls like cats. And she likes to read and stuff, right?"

"What does all this have to do with..." Zack started to say. What he really meant to say was 'What does all this have to do with winning back Vicky'

"Zack... You're pretty good describing people, but you really missed it with Vicky. "Peter said. "Journalism is a lot of things, not just investigative journalism and mysteries. Vicky doesn't like mysteries. Heck, she doesn't even like investigative journalism. She likes to be the FACE of the news. She likes to be in front of the camera reporting the news or interviewing someone like... Rachael Maddow. She's very good at that but mysteries... no way, she doesn't read mysteries. And just because she's a girl doesn't mean she likes cats. You like cats, she doesn't." Peter caught himself 'well maybe she does but I can't feed him false hopes, and I better not say anything about her reading,' Peter thought.

"Zack, what I'm trying to say is: You're so in love with the IDEA of Vicky that you forgot ABOUT Vicky," Peter said, "You fell in love with an illusion of a person. And somewhere, deep inside, you knew it. That's why you waited so long to make your move."

"That's not true," Zack said crossing his arms.

"Think about it." Peter shrugged, and for a few moments they stat in silence.

Peter nodded and thought for a while before he asked Zack "Tell me something. How would you describe... Chloe?"

"Well, She's smart, she likes soccer, and she's good with video games, she's pretty laid back and easy-going," Zack said a bit confused.

"But?" Peter offered

"But she's really worried about the way she looks, She thinks she ugly," Zack said "I've tried to tell her she isn't, that she's a pretty girl but..."

"You have to be more convincing with her." Peter said and added "and what about Gavin?"

"Gavin's really, really smart. He gets straight 'A' and he hardly ever studies anything." Zack said not knowing where Peter was going with these questions and what did it have to do with winning Vicky "He's crazy good with games and computers. Did you know he made a program to hack the school server and change the student pictures when he was 15?"

Peter smiled and nodded remembering the whole stink and how he had buried the story when he found out and suspected it might have been Gavin or Grace.

"But?" Peter offered

"But he's very shy, especially with girls, almost like he's scared of them," Zack said, "I've tried to tell him that nothing will happen, I tell him if he can talk with Chloe and her friends like Meagan or Sylvie then he can talk with other girls."

"You might have to be more forceful." Peter said and added "and what about Heather's cousin, Kurt?"

"He seems ok... but there's something.... sneaky about him..." Zack said doubtfully "He talks a lot about girls and football. That's all he talks about. And he asked me about you and Hannah and Taylor which was... weird," Zack said with a twist of his lips, "And then he asked me if Chloe's drapes match her rug? Whatever that means."

Peter chuckled at that last comment "He wanted to know if the hair on her pussy is the same as the hair on her head."

Zack's eyes went wide open in realization, "He'd better not try anything sneaky with her."

"What would you do?" Peter asked.

"I... I don't know... maybe... tell her... I guess." Zack said.

"Maybe?" Peter asked. " Zack, they look up to you, they depend on you. Haven't you noticed that they always wait for you to take charge? Even Meagan."

"Meagan likes me?" Zack said in confusion although he recognized that it was true, they did tend to look at him to make a decision.

"NOOO! She doesn't like you... she's a lesbian. She'd probably puke at the idea," Peter said chuckling "but she does look up to you. Today, every time she makes a joke that goes just a little too far she looks at you to see if she went too far."

"She does?" Zack said.

"Well.... that's what Hannah and Taylor told me," Peter said. "The thing is they look up to you. They look up to you to make a decision, to take charge, to be bold, to be their leader. Like when you stood up to Brandon a few years ago. ."

"But I'm not that kind of person," Zack said not believing what Peter was saying.

"Of course you are," Peter said punching him lightly in the shoulder "Remember! You stole a kiss tonight. That was bold, That was taking charge. Girls remember things like that, and every other girl tonight will remember that too. Most of the time they like it when a guy takes charge." he added "And once you start doing that... Things will start to go better, Like when I kissed Hannah. I took charge, I made the move. You should too."

"Now I got a few things I can teach you, and I learned them from the best there is," Peter said.

"Who?" Zack asked.

"Taylor and Hannah. Who else?" Peter said as if there was any doubt it could be any other way. "Now, the first thing you got to...."