The teacher is talking to Keith - one of the students who is at the white board.  Keith is incorrectly calculating the area of a circle.  At the prompting of the teacher, Dustin corrects his mistake in front of the class, which then dismisses.  Keith is angry, and as the music gets more ominous, Dustin flees for his safety.

But not fast enough.  Keith confronts him in a common area that is uncomfortably free of students. He bullies Dustin into doing his homework in three subjects - including French which Dustin doesn't even know!  If he doesn't - bad BAD things will happen to him!

When Chase gives Zoey a ride back to her dorm on his bike, we are introduced to Janitor Herb - an aspiring actor who goes to auditions, but doesn't get parts.  So he is a janitor at PCA.

Dustin has to work all night to satisfy Keith's demands.  Meanwhile, the girls also have their sleep interrupted in the middle of the night by Chase and Michael.  They have a dog named Elvis, and need the girls to hide him – there are no dogs allowed at PCA.  Dana especially protests, but a call from  Logan settles the issue - the boys’ dorm advisor did a bed check and they are missing! They quickly return to their dorm leaving the girls holding the dog.

When Zoey finds out Dustin is getting bullied, she goes with him to confront Keith.  Chase comes along, warning her it isn't a good idea.  Zoey’s confronting Keith backfires miserably.  It just gives Keith another way to bully Dustin - now his older sister has to be his bodyguard!  It is absolutely humiliating to Dustin, who angrily tells his sister off for her interference.  She has been acting like his mother, and he doesn't like it.  He wishes she wasn't at PCA.  Worse yet - Keith demands that Dustin do his laundry as well as homework!

Nicole has bad news for Zoey and Dana - Elvis is gone.  She was going to the bathroom to check on her hair, when Elvis ran out and was caught by the dorm advisor and was taken to the pound.

A humiliated Dustin visits Chase and Michael at their dorm room and asks them for advice on how to handle bullies.  Later, Zoey is horrified to learn that Chase told Dustin to stand up to the bully.  She knows Keith is probably going to clobber her brother.  She is about to rush off to Dustin's rescue, but Chase reminds her that Dustin would probably rather get beat up than be known as the boy who needs his sister as a bodyguard.  But Zoey has a plan to help Dustin - without interfering!  She drags Chase along by his shirt!

In geometry class, the teacher compliments Keith on much improved work, when Michael arrives with a message - the principal wants to see Keith!  Keith does not recognize the principal, who identifies himself only as the "dean of discipline."  It is actually Herb the janitor, playing the part of the angry dean, but Keith does not know it. Herb convinces Keith that if he ever bullies another student, he will be expelled.  A frightened Keith leaves, and Zoey and Chase enter - they were waiting just outside and it was a great performance!

Dustin is ready to confront Keith, and knows he probably is going to get clobbered.  Some of his friends are there for moral support.  We see Keith's posse as he comes down the stairs, but they disappear.  Dustin won't let Keith talk first; instead he proceeds to tell Keith off.  Keith sheepishly agrees that Dustin doesn't have to do his homework or smelly laundry any more.  Dustin's friends think it is awesome!  Zoey and Chase were there also, out of sight, and overheard it all.

Chase and Michael are in Zoey's room with Zoey and Nicole telling about the day’s events.  Dana arrives at the room with a surprise - Elvis!  She sneaked off campus, took a bus to the animal shelter and got him back.  But if anybody tells that she did something nice, she will mess them up.  The dorm advisor knocks - and what are they going to do with Elvis?!  It turns out that Zoey and Nicole taught him a trick - and he goes and hides in a pile of stuffed animals (think E.T. in the movie E.T. - same trick hiding in plain sight).  The dorm advisor IS mad - but it is because the boys are in the room after curfew.  After all breathe a sigh of relief, the boys leave.

Dustin sees Zoey and Nicole the next day, and apologizes to Zoey.  She promises not to fight his battles, but he still wants to be "cooled up." Zoey and Nicole happily oblige!

Closing line: (Dustin) "I think I'll go change my underwear" – said after he confronted Keith and unexpectedly won.

NOTE: This is one of two first season episodes in which Quinn does not appear.

This episode can be compared to aspects of Lizzie McGuire 1- 17 "Sibling Bonds."  The Lizzie McGuire episode also dealt with a big sister defending a little brother – when Lizzie finds out a boy is bullying Matt.  The treatment in Sibling Bonds is almost exactly the opposite of Defending Dustin, as Lizzie is the hero to Matt when she ultimately gives up a pizza date with Ethan to take care of the bully - who ends up handcuffed to a miniature golf statue.

In most respects, I think Zoey 101 treats the subject more realistically than Lizzie McGuire did.  The long term consequences of Lizzie's actions would probably be more similar to what happened in Zoey - I can imagine everybody at Matt's school making fun of him because his sister had to be his bodyguard.
 

This episode also compares to episode 1-12 of Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, "Guide to Cheaters and Bullies."  Ned tries to avoid the bully (which doesn't work,) to act insane (which works but ends up with Ned as the bully).  The ultimate answer in Ned's is peer mediation – which is of dubious effectiveness given human nature.

One last comparison: "Max Keebles’ Big Move."  Max is a study in being the ultimate version of "dead meat" when he gets back at the bullies, only to find out he isn't moving and will have to confront them.  Max's solution may be the best of all - to find friends to back you up; there is safety in numbers.

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